Living Life
by branson101
Summary: Edward Cullen is a smart, arrogant, jerk who is just waiting to graduate so he can leave Forks behind for good. Bella Swan is the troubled new girl with a secret and demons that haunt her. M for language
1. Chapter 1

LL Chapter 1

Stuck in Hell

I sat in class bored out of my mind once again. I cannot wait to get the hell out of this school and out of this town. Thankfully, this is my senior year. All I have to do is survive this year and then I am off to the Ivy Leagues and I am never looking back at this crappy ass, loser town. I mean my parents are from Chicago. CHICAGO! So, why the hell did they ever think that it was such a great idea to move to this crap hole? I mean, the private schools in Chicago alone would have given me teachers that actually challenged me, not irritated me with their meager knowledge base.

And my fellow students; don't even get me started on those losers. Most of the boys will be stuck in this town because they have no ambition. Or they ended up stuck here because they were stupid and ended up knocking up some pathetic small town tramp. Not me. There is no way that I am going to risk my future for some little small town slut. I have never and will never trust any of them. They all know that I am headed for bigger and better things and the only ambitions the girls in this town ever had included acquiring a ring on their left hand and stretch marks, and not necessarily in that order.

Thank God! I thought internally as the bell finally rang. I walked down to the cafeteria where I met up with up with my twin sister, Alice, and her boyfriend Jasper. I got in line behind them and tugged on her short hair to which she responded by punching me in the shoulder. Jasper and Emmett were the only two guys around here that I actually liked. I tolerated Emmett's girlfriend Rose. She was a bitchy one when she didn't like you and half the time she didn't like me. She thought I was an arrogant asshole. And I am and I am proud of it.

Rose was talking about the latest school gossip when we sat down at the table after purchasing our food. The latest news, right now, was that the chief of police's troubled daughter was coming to live with him. Rumor had it that she was involved in some kind of trouble wherever the hell it was that she lived with her mother, apparently it was bad enough to include a major stay at the hospital, lawyers, and frequent court dates. I never knew he even had a daughter until everyone started talking about her. Because the great chief refused to tell any of the town gossips the details about what happened, they made up their own details. I actually heard the other day that the girl was on trial for murder. Yeah, right. I guess she and the chief would be here this weekend and she would be starting school with us on Monday. Oh YEA! Another loser for me to put up with for the rest of the year. Too bad I was never able to convince my parents to send me to boarding school.

"Hey, Alice, you want to catch dinner and a movie with me tonight?" Jasper asked. I do not know why he bothered. It was Thursday. He knows that she works every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at Newton's Sporting Goods store. She liked the extra money the job gave her for clothes, even if that meant having to endure working with Mike Newton. He was a spineless little weasel. Jasper and I cornered him after Alice was hired to give him a little advice. He had better not touch a hair on her head or allow anyone to harass or upset her in anyway or he would have hell to pay with us.

I did not have a paying job. And I did not care to get one. My parents knew that my priority were my grades. However, they did insist that I volunteer, so every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday afternoons, I could be found at the Port Angeles hospital-holding babies in the NICU. I know it seem a bit out of character for me, but the only reason that I do it at all is because it will look amazing on college applications and that was what was really important.

Luckily, the rest of the day went by rather quickly. I went home, locked myself in my room, and pretended to study for an exam that I had tomorrow in Physics. It is not like I did not already know all of this stuff backwards and forwards. It is just that there was nothing else to do in this God forsaken town. And I really did not want to listen to my mother fuss over my "lack of a social life" again since I currently didn't have a girlfriend. Hell, I had never had one and was not interested in getting one. She never liked my answer that no one in this town was worth my time.

The next day was nothing but more of the same thing as yesterday. The only good thing was that it was Friday and I was free of school for two whole days. As soon as school was out, I made my way to Port Angeles for my volunteer shift. There were two new babies added since I was here last. The first was a little boy born heart and lungs issues. His nurse told me that they were not optimistic about his chances. They asked me to sit with other baby and cuddle her as much as possible. Her name was Tanya and she was born three months early to a teen mom. Tanya wasn't going stay in the NICU long. Her mother was relocating to the area and they had to life flight the baby in. The baby was only staying until for a couple weeks until they were positive that it would be safe to send her home. The mom probably did drugs or something. I mean, what the fuck was this teen mom thinking naming the poor thing Tanya? It was an old person's name, like for someone my parent's age.

By the time that I made it home for dinner Alice was already gone with Jasper. One of the kids at school was throwing a party and "everyone" was going to be there. Well, they could count me out of "everyone". Alice was going to be mad that I did not show, but I never said I would. She just demanded that I try to attend at least one social event in high school so I would not have any regrets later in life. Somehow, I do not think that I would ever regret not socializing with these people.

After a quiet meal with Mom since dad was staying late at the hospital I went up to my room and looked over my college brochures and applications again. I was going to have to get started on my essays soon so that I could get them sent out as soon as possible. I think somewhere in my mind, even as illogical as it was, I believed that the sooner I was accepted to a school the sooner I could escape this hellhole.

A/N: A little short but oh well. I am not going to tie myself to a posting schedule. I am sure that a lot of you are figuring things out, but let's see if you can guess the whole story!


	2. Chapter 2

LL Chapter 2

Psycho-Swan

EPOV:

I woke up early on Saturday morning and immediately got ready to take off for the day. Since Alice had to work at Newton's on Saturdays Dad had asked me to switch cars with Alice today so that I could take her car to Port Angeles for an oil change. I made sure to leave my keys where Alice would be sure to find them so she wouldn't be calling me in a couple hours whining because she can not find my keys and she was going to be late for work.

It was times like this that I was glad that we both drive sticks. I hate getting into Mom's automatic and having to get used to not shifting. I turned off my phone and threw it in the gloves box and took off for the hour long drive to Port Angeles. I pulled into the mechanic's shop a little after nine and went to sit in the waiting room while they worked on the car. After about a half hour of waiting the mechanic came in the room and told me that he noticed that one the belts on the car was starting to fray and wanted to know if I wanted him to go ahead and replace them. Of course I wanted him to fix the belts. I may be an ass to most people but I _did_ actually love my sister and did not want anything bad to happen to her.

By the time that they were done with the car it was nearing lunchtime so I made my way over a little café that I loved to eat at that had great burgers and fries and hand dipped malts. I also liked the staff there. They had a lot of fun with their jobs and it was a fun atmosphere to be in. The waitress' that worked there were older than my mother but were constantly hitting on me in jest trying to get me to open up a little. They knew that I had intentions of becoming a doctor just like my father as I have spent many Saturday mornings taking up a booth in the back studying. It was a family business and had been opened by their grandfather. The two sisters, who served as waitresses, took ownership of the café when their father passed away twenty years ago. As usual they had me smiling by the time that I left to make my way over to the hospital.

I was once again in charge of holding baby Tanya for the afternoon. The nurses told me that her mother was not due in until later that day. I never did get a chance to peek at her chart to see if she was or had been on methadone but I would bet anything that she had been. She was a sweet and calm baby. But most preemies that I've encountered here are calm. Most but not all.

I stayed at the hospital and sat with Tanya longer than I normally would. Before I knew it, it was after four and I had to get going to make it home in time for dinner. I was just getting up out of the rocker to put her back when I heard someone enter the room. The next thing I know the teen slut mom is attacking me.

"What the hell do you think you are doing with my baby? GIVE HER BACK!"

When I turned the baby away from her flailing arms she really went ballistic demanding that I give her back the baby.

"I SAID GIVE HER BACK!"

"Back off and calm down and I will!" I snapped back at her.

"PLEASE! Give her back to me." she sobbed, I realized that at this point, she was starting to cry, so I reached my hand out to touch her shoulder when she really flipped out and punched me in the mouth yelling "KEEP YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF ME!"

At this point I was totally pissed off at being physically assaulted and lashed back at her, snarling, "It's a little too late to learn that phrase isn't it?" And I moved over to the cradle and laid Tanya down and stormed out of room followed by one of nurses witnessed the tail end of our interaction. She looked at my lip and told me that it did not look as bad as it probably felt but I should have my dad look at it when I get home anyway. Then she apologized and promised to have a talk with the girl and let her know that they would not tolerate the volunteers being abused like that. She made me promise that I would come back before I could leave.

I was their only volunteer that was here on a regular, long term basis. I have personally seen too many volunteers come and go. A lot of them thought it would be fun to just sit and hold the babies for hours. But few of them thought about why these babies were in the NICU to begin with, some volunteers left because they could not stand seeing the babies hooked up to so many machines, others left when they had to witness a baby that could not overcome whatever put them in the NICU to begin with. I have seen three babies go that way. I do not think that it will ever be something that one could get used or get over. I do not think that I will ever forget the babies that I held that did not make it.

Even after an hour of driving to get home I was still furious that the Psycho-Slut punched me. I immediately searched out my father to look at my lip. He put some medicine on my lip and told me that it should heal in a couple of days. He seemed almost amused by me getting assaulted by Psycho-Slut. Not that I called her that to his face. I did not have any desire to have to sit through the "you need to respect women" lecture with my mom and dad that that little nickname would earn me. I respected women who, I thought, earned my respect. But, I decided that I had better try to refrain from calling her that in my mind, as well, before I accidentally blurted it out in front of my mother. The last thing that I wanted was to hurt my mom and make her cry. She was too good of a lady to be treated badly.

The rest of my weekend went by quite fairly quickly and before I knew it I was heading back to the Hell that was officially known as Forks High. My second period class was physics and it was going to be dreadfully boring. Dr. Banner always felt the need to go over the problems that were most missed on exams when he gave back the scores. He usually ended up going over pretty much the whole test because Forks High was full of imbeciles. I grabbed a book that I picked up about how to write the perfect essay on college applications and made my way to class. I was stunned and infuriated to see not that there was someone sitting at my lab table but who it was that was sitting there. It was none other than Psycho-Slut. Sorry, Psycho-girl. Great. Now I had to deal with her at school, too.

I walked over to the table and sat down and she looked stunned, herself, when she saw me sit down next to her. She was even more stunned when I opened my mouth and let loose on her. "Look. I already know that you have to be Chief Swan's daughter, which is all I need to know about you. All you need to know about me is that I am the smartest person at this school and that includes the so-called teachers and I will not let some stupid little girl bring down my grade. I will do the work and you will benefit from my intelligence. You understand?"

Now she looked infuriated again and opened her mouth to speak again but I cut her off "Oh, and if you even think of hitting me again, I will not hesitate to press charges against you. I do not care if your own father has to arrest you in his own home." And then I picked up my book, turned my back to her, and ignored everything else that was going on in the class room for the rest of the hour.

My next class was English and Psycho-Swan, as I was now going to call her in my head, was in that class too. But so were Jessica and Lauren. It was actually amusing listening to them for once. They were whispering quite loudly about the new girl and that included all the nasty rumors that their little minds could imagine. They kept up the nasty comments, but the new girl never even gave them the satisfaction of even looking at them let alone responding to the comments.

When lunch finally came I made my way to my normal table with my sister and our friends. Alice was still bugging me about missing the party Friday night and in my attempt to ignore but she kept it up until the whole room when absolutely silent. I looked up to see what was going on when I saw that Psycho-Swan had entered the room and everyone was staring at her. She just made her way to an empty table in the far corner of the room and sat by herself. I leaned over to my sister and told her that the new girl was the one that hit me at the hospital.

Everyone at the table looked at me. Rose and Alice looked furious. Rose and I may not get along a lot. Ok. Most of the time she hated me, but I knew that she was not going to let it slide that the girl attacked me for absolutely no reason while I was holding a defenseless baby. She whispered something to Alice and they got up and walked over to Psycho's table. I do not know what they were said to her but I do know that they looked absolutely smug when they left her table and she ran out of the room in tears.

Alice went back to harassing me about my lack of social life. Asking me what I had against the girls at school when I did not really know them. I knew all I needed to know about most of them. Jessica and Mike were constantly breaking up and getting back together because one would catch the other cheating and get angry. It was a known fact that Lauren was a regular visitor at the Women's Clinic in Port Angeles; I had personally seen her car there on many Saturdays.

"So, Chief Swan's a grandpa huh?"

"I guess. His daughter must take after his first wife, because I really like chief Swan, he's pretty cool for a cop. His daughter on the other hand, though, is an irresponsible, irrational bitch." I answered him.

I allowed my mind to wander to baby Tanya, while Alice and Rose planned some shopping trip to Seattle. I wondered who was holding her and playing with her if her mother was in school.

A/N: Do you hate him? What do you think of Bella? Several of you guessed right about who Tanya's mother was. I just want to add that Edward and I do not share the same thoughts of teen moms. I have a few cousins that were teen moms. One ended up that stereotypical welfare mom (the kind that Edward fears) and two actually went on to get college degrees (one was a single mom too). The next update will not be until after I get back from vacation. I am leaving Saturday to spend a week in the woods (basically) on Table Rock Lake in Branson, MO. My ability to connect to the internet will be spotty at best so if you review after Friday night, I will not be able to respond until at least the following Sunday. One last thing, I do not have a beta so please forgive my grammar errors.


	3. Chapter 3

LL Chapter 3

Tuesday passed with little trouble from psycho-swan. I slipped up and called her that in front of Alice who laugher and took to using the nickname as well. For the most part, the girl just kept to herself at school and never talked to anyone. Not that anyone at school anything to do with her anyway.

The thing is that she did not dress like a slut, like the other girls at school did. Jessica and Lauren were always wearing skirts that were to shorts and shirts that hung too low. The only thing I had seen this girl wear so far was jeans and long sleeved, oversized, sweatshirts. Maybe she was just having a hard time adjusting to the temperature difference between Arizona and Washington. Not that I cared or that it was any of my business.

That afternoon, when I got to the NICU Sue Swan was there with Tanya, so I was asked to comfort little Isaac instead of Tanya. That was fine by me. I did not want to deal with psycho-swan more than I already had to at school.

Isaac was hooked up to so many tubes and wires that it was not possible for me to pick him up let alone walk him over to the rocker. So I moved the chair over to the incubator and talked to him while I stroked his hair.

I did not even realize that Mrs. Swan was approaching me with Tanya until she addressed me.

"Edward?" I looked up. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Mrs. Swan. And you?" 

"I'm dealing with a lot of changes in such a short time. And please call me Sue."

"I bet you are, Sue."

"She's really sorry that she hit you. She just wasn't expecting to come in and find a stranger holding her baby."

I sighed. "Its fine, Sue. No permanent damage done."

"Just to warn you, she will be here later this afternoon. She would be already here, but she had a doctor's appointment."

"Ok." I was not sure why she was telling me this, but whatever. "How long do they think Tanya will have to stay in the NICU? The going home celebrations are my favorite part of this job."

"They think that she can be released by the end of next week. She probably would have been released sooner if she had stayed in Arizona. But there was no where for Bella to stay after she was released, so we had to arrange for Tanya to be transferred here. I thank your father immensely for all the help he gave us with that." I wondered briefly what she meant by that. I thought that she lived with her mother? And what about the father of the kid? Wasn't he going to take any responsibility at all? Maybe the rumors were true and she really did not know who the father was?

"That is great news" was all I said and then Sue walked back over to where Tanya's incubator was and I was left alone again with Isaac and my thoughts.

That evening when I got home from the hospital, I found my mother and father in the kitchen making supper. She was angry and dad was trying his best to calm her down.

"I cannot believe how narrow-minded and cruel those harpies are!"

"I know Esme. We both knew that the gossips in town would have a field day with this. Hell, even Charlie and Sue knew this was coming."

"But the poor girl has been through enough. Her life has been an absolute nightmare since this started and it is just not fair?"

"What are you guys talking about? What's not fair?" I asked walking into the kitchen and sitting at the breakfast bar next.

"It is not our story to tell." Dad said with the air of finality that meant that there was no use trying to get more information out of either of them. They was not going to tell.

After dinner, Emmett, Rose, and Jasper came over to hang out. Emmett, Jasper and I went out back to shoot some hoops while Alice and Rose went upstairs to do whatever girly thing that they had planned for the evening.

The rest of the week was just as boring as the beginning was. Friday, I sat talking with Isaac, who had gotten his eye mask removed and had opened his eyes. I was telling him about all the cool stuff there was in the outside world just waiting for him to come out to play and explore. I told him about video games, and model planes, and girls. Just was choosing was live celibate at the moment did not mean that I did not notice girls. I have had a long standing crush on Emma Watson from those Potter movies. Alice likes to tease me that the only reason that I was interested in attending Brown University was because I thought I had a chance to meet her. Not that I would complain if I did bump into her, but realistically, I knew that it would never happen. Besides, it was doubtful that I would actually end up attending Brown.

It did not take long for me to lull Isaac to sleep with my talking, but I continued to talk and stroke his hair as I looked around the room. The Swan girl was sitting in a rocking chair across the room, cuddling with Tanya.

This was the first time that I paid her enough attention to really see her. She was really pale and thin, especially for someone that just had a baby. It made me wonder if she had an eating disorder that caused her to have Tanya so early. But her eyes, I had noticed her enough at school to see the haunted, far away look that was always there in her eyes. But right now, looking at her daughter, her eyes were dancing with the love that she had for that baby girl. It made her almost look pretty. Almost.

Saturday Chief Swan had joined his daughter at the hospital. When I got there they were in the middle of an argument.

"Sweetie, it is not healthy for you to be here every waking moment. You need to get out."

"No."

"Stop being unreasonable, Bells, and it is not an option. Seth is coming up here to get you and he has orders to remove you, even if he has to throw you over his shoulder and carry you out kicking and screaming."

"But Dad…"

"No buts. They are having a bonfire on the res and they invited you to join. It would be rude of you to not show up."

"But Tanya…"

"Leah has volunteered to stay here with Tanya for the evening. And Seth will take care of you. You will be fine. You need to do this. The doctor said so."

"I know."

"I love you sweetie. I'll see you at home later."

"I love you too, Dad."

"I have to get going. I need to be at my post soon." I watched as Bella's face fell.

"I'm sorry, Dad."

He grabbed her face and looked her directly in the eyes. "Do not ever say you are sorry. You have nothing to be sorry about. None of it is or ever has been your fault."

"I know." And with that he kissed the both of them on the forehead and left the room.

As soon as he left, she looked down at Tanya and said, "fine, but if Jacob Black comes anywhere near me I am kneeing him in the balls on principle." I could not stop myself from laughing out loud at that and the Swan Girl just glared at me before turning her attention back to her daughter.

I felt bad for eavesdropping, but it was not like I could help it. They were not attempting to be quiet at all. Everyone knew that Seth and Leah were her step-siblings. They were Sue's kids from her first marriage. Her first husband, Harry, had been killed in a tragic logging accident.

I turned my attention back to baby Isaac and concentrated on him and trying to ignore the Swan girl. Before I knew it I heard Seth and Leah arrive. They had a hard time getting her out of there because she swore that she just needed to give Tanya one more kiss or cuddle before she left. It was actually quite funny when Seth reiterated his threat of throwing her over his shoulder. She finally gave up and left.

"Hey there, Edward."

"Hey Leah. How have you been?"

She looked down at the little girl in her arms. "I can't really complain, can I? I am better than this little one and her mother have been."

"I guess."

"I wish that Bella would have been allowed to attend the res school. That way we could protect her. But it wasn't allowed."

I just shrugged and Leah left me alone. I too wished that she would have been able to go to the res school. But I did not vocalize that. Leah was fiercely protective of her family. When Seth was being picked on by some of the bigger kids when they were younger she went after the boys with a crowbar. They never bullied anyone again. Then she got Sam, her boyfriend, to help Seth bulk up. He's a big kid now. I sure as hell would not mess with either of them.

A/N:

I survived my vacation. I took my son para-sailing. I loved every second of it. And I am afraid of heights! I am working on FYH, but the new chapters for that story take a lot more research now.


	4. Chapter 4

LL Chapter 4

Warnings

The head nurse on duty, Mary, asked me to stay a little later than normal today as Isaac's parents were going to be delayed in returning to the NICU. It seems that Isaac had an older sister that was turning four years old today and they were trying to spend some time with her today so that she would have a great birthday and know that she was special to her parents too. It had to be hard for parents in this situation. I knew that they wanted and needed to be here and they wanted and needed to be with her too. I was more than happy to oblige and help out.

I tried not to listen as Mary went over Leah and started talking but I could not help it. Besides, this is a small town with a lot of gossips. At least, I would know the truth instead of vicious lies.

"So, tell me how Bella is really doing?" the nurse asked.

"As well as she can be expected. The kids at her school haven't been too welcoming to her. I know that someone has said something to upset her because she cried herself to sleep that night, but she refuses to tell me who it was or what they said. She just keeps saying it is not important what others think. I mean, tell that to her mother, right?" I felt a little bad about that because I knew that it was Rose and Alice that upset her and I set them on her. But, like I said, Leah was scary fierce and I was not about to go ratting out my sister. I might throw Rose under the bus for the right price, though.

"I know. Look. There are only a few of us that know the whole story of what happened in Phoenix, but we are all really proud of the maturity and strength that she has shown through all of this."

"So are all of us in the family. I'm glad that she went out today. I know that she's worried about Tanya, but she is good hands with you, me, and Edward over there." She looked up at me, "hey, Edward?"

"Yes?" 

"Are you still planning on going to med school and specializing in neonatology?"

"Yes, I am."

"Good for you! You'll be great at that!" Leah responded. Sue has worked part time as one of my dad's nurses since I was a kid. They are practically family to us at this point, which led me to a new realization. There was a good chance that I would have to endure putting up with Tanya's mother and certain functions my parents forced me attend. I hated those things to begin with now they were going to be excruciating to endure. Not because of little Tanya, though. She was a little peach of a baby. She was such a sweet, quiet, good baby.

But their conversation did leave me wondering what happened with Psycho's mother? More than likely she kicked her out when she found out that she was pregnant. But, no, there is no way that Chief Swan would have let his pregnant daughter live on the streets during her pregnancy only to take her in now. Why the hell was this bothering me anyway? It not like it concerned me what happened.

I was brought out of my musing by Leah and the nurse continuing there conversation.

"…but how is she physically?"

"Physically? She is still healing and will be for a while. She went through so much hell."

"Yes, she did." And they left it at that while Mary went about checking vitals of the babies and administering meds.

Before I knew it Carrie, Isaac's mother, showed up to spend some time with him before visiting hours were over.

"Thank you so much for staying with him, Edward. It meant a lot to us to be able to spend time with Cassidy."

"I was glad that I could help. He's a good baby and I get that Cassidy needs attention too. Anytime you need me to stay or come in, just have one of the nurses call me, and I will help out. Even if you just need a couple of hours to yourself. I'm also willing to babysit him after he is released if you need help. I know it can be hard to find sitters with experience with preemies." With that she grabbed me and hugged me while crying and trying to thank me for the offer. It was not the first time that I offered sitting services. Preemies often needed special care even after they were sent home.

When I got home that night, Alice was waiting to pounce on me.

"Angela is coming home today!" I remembered Mom telling Dad that the Webber's had to go to Texas because Mrs. Webber's mother had died suddenly. They had been gone for a couple of weeks for the funeral and to start the process of settling the estate.

"What? Am I supposed to care about that for some reason?"

"Come on, Edward! She's a nice girl and she's pretty and really smart and for some reason she really likes you."

"No, Alice."

"I don't understand why you have such a negative view of the people around in this town. They are not as bad as you have made them out to be in your head."

"Well, I do not understand why you are so determined to attempt to ruin my life by attempting to set me up with these girls." At this she rolled her eyes at me. "Alice, the answer is still and always will be no. Absolutely _NOT_!"

"_FINE_! Be a complete jerk then. But do not come crying to me when you wake up one day, all alone and miserable." And with that she ran off to room and slammed her door. In all honesty, Angela wasn't all _THAT_ bad. But, I was not about to relax my 'no girls' rule for anyone at this point. I sighed and went up to my room. I did not come out until my parents yelled upstairs that they were leaving for a date night and probably would not be back until late. Jasper showed up to pick up Alice for their double date with Emmett and Rose and little bit after that, so I decided that it was safe enough for me to come back downstairs.

I grabbed a sandwich, chips, and soda for my supper and started flipping through channels on the TV. Out of the hundreds of channels we get, the only I could find remotely interesting was some rerun of Hee Haw on RFDTV. Yeah, that is how I spent my Saturday night.

A/N:

Can you believe it? Two updates in two days! Here is the deal with this. I am trying to work on Follow Your Heart, but it takes a lot of research and fact checking. That makes the writing process time consuming and difficult. These chapters are easier to write and I can get more out quickly. Also, this story is helping with my focus for writing. So, I have decided to do something that one of my current favorite authors, Savage7289, does. I am going to post shorter chapters to this story quite frequently while I work my way through the chapters of FYH. I am not guaranteeing daily updates but frequent.


	5. Chapter 5

LL Chapter 5

Friendship and Sorrow

The rest of the weekend went by quietly. That is quietly as in Alice still was not speaking to me. She never did understand my views of the people in this town or the fact that I just did not want to date anyone let alone socialize with the people that we went to school with. I just did not give a shit about any of them. They meant nothing to me and I sure as hell was never going to think of any of them again after I left this town. Well, with the exception of Jasper, Emmett, and Rose.

Monday ended up being a bad day. Dr. Banner assigned us an in-class lab to do with our lab partners. That meant that I actually had to deal with the swan girl. I looked over at her, ready to tell her to let me handle the whole damn thing on my own, when I found that she already had her text book and note book open and was starting the lab. She looked me right in the eye and said, "Are you going to work on this with me or are you just going to sit there on your lazy ass?"

How dare she speak to me like that? I opened my mouth that snap back but then I got a good look at her. There were dark circles around her eyes, like she had not slept in ages. Or at least, she had not slept _well_ in ages. Considering she had a baby in the NICU in Port Angeles, that was self explanatory. It was a very long hour in that class. Several times I looked up at the clock and I could swear that time was going backwards instead of forward. But, I did learn one thing. Bella Swan was not as stupid as I originally thought she was. She actually knew what she was doing in this lab.

When I got to the lunch room, I got the surprise of my life when I looked around and saw that the new girl had made a couple of friends. The fact that Angela was sitting at her table did not surprise me in the least. She was always known for bring home stray animals and was a sucker for lost causes. But the other person sitting with them was a shock, so was the fact that they were all smiling and laughing.

I did not hear Emmett coming up behind me, so he startled me when he started to talk. "Rose told me this morning that she was going to sit with her. Apparently, Bella joined the support group at the church and came to the meeting for the first time yesterday." Rose joined the support group at the urging of her family and her therapist after she was robbed at gun point six months ago.

She had gone up to Port Angeles by herself on afternoon to pick something up for a date she had with Emmett. It was his birthday and she had special ordered his gift and it came in just in time for his as she was getting back into her BMW, some guy stuck a gun in her back and demanded that she hand over her purse and the keys to the car. Then he made her lay face down on the ground and told her that if she turned to look at him he would kill her. To emphasize his point he shot at her, close enough to her head that she said that she felt the heat of the bullets, but not actually get shot. Then he was gone. Neither the guy nor her car was seen again. We all figure he went straight to a chop shop with it. Now, she won't shop alone and she won't drive any car that is not a rusted out hunk of junk. Emmett has a hard time getting over the guilt that she was there because of him. Consequently, what Rose wanted or needed from him…Rose got.

I sat down with the rest of the group and ate my lunch while listening to Alice gripe and complain that Rose was sitting with the new girl instead of her. Jasper managed to pacify her enough by giving her attention, but I knew what Alice really needed was assurance. Jessica and Alice had been inseparable when they were kids. Then one day, Jessica decided she would rather be friends with Lauren and ditched my sister. It broke my sister's heart to lose her best friend. Not that I really mind after seeing how Jessica and Lauren turned out. They were not only whores, but liked drinking and smoking. And I am not talking about regular cigarettes that you can get at the gas station. I am talking about weed and from what I have heard Alice talking about; they have dabbled in some stronger shit too. But my sister has never gotten over the fact that she was ditched for drugs.

Tuesday afternoon, I had to stop off at the library, so by the I showed up at the NICU, Isaac's mom was there but was getting ready to leave. Her husband, Eric, was on his way to pick her up as he left work, before picking up their daughter and having an early supper together as a family. She was just picking up her purse and I was almost to Isaac's incubator, alarms started going off like crazy. It was Isaac. The doctor on call came rushing in and was barking instructions to the nurse on duty, Jennifer I think. They were saying something about Isaac being in respiratory arrest and that he was crashing. I heard Carrie crying, so I walked over to her and pulled her into a hug and let her cry. Before I knew it, the doctors were on their way out of the door with Isaac for emergency surgery.

It was only seconds later that Eric came in, he paled when he took in the scene before him of his wife crying hysterically. He walked over to us and I handed his wife over to him. The nurse came back in the room and started explaining what was going on and offered to escort them to the surgical waiting room.

As soon as they were gone, I looked up across the room to see Bella sitting all alone holding Tanya. Bella was looking my way but she had tears streaming down her face and she looked completely lost. I stood there for a moment and just looked at her before I turned and walked out of the room.

I made my way down the where the gift shop was and bought three coffees at the coffee bar, before making my way back upstairs. I walked into the waiting room and immediately searched out Carrie and Eric, walked over to them, sat down, and offered them two of the coffees. I called home and told my mom that I was not going to make it home for supper and I then spent the next four hours in the surgical waiting room, keeping Carrie and Eric distracted by asking questions about Cassidy and their jobs while we waited to hear any news on Isaac's condition.

A/N:

I was going to end it with him walking out of the NICU, but reconsidered. He's been enough of a jerk in this chapter. I thought that he deserved for everyone to know that it wasn't really an asshole move on his part. FYH is about half way done. I have posted a teaser on my blog. There is also a link to my twitter. I sometimes post updates on the chapters there sometimes and I might post another teaser there tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

LL Chapter 6

Bad News/Good News

I overslept the next morning and was extremely late for school. I had a feeling that my parents orchestrated for my alarms to be turned off. I was late for biology by the time I finally made it to school.

I managed to slip into the room almost unnoticed. Dr. Banner just nodded and walked over to get my tardy slip. He managed to keep on with his lecture without losing a beat. I tried to take notes but I really could not concentrate. I was putting my book back in my bag when I felt someone touch my arm. I looked up and found Bella standing there, biting her lip.

"Um…I'm sorry to bother you. I know you don't like me. But I just need to know. Isaac…is he…did he…."

I sighed. "He didn't make it, Bella." And she started crying hysterically. Noticing that we were the only ones left in the room I grabbed my phone out and called my father's office. Luckily, Sue was on duty and was the one that answered the phone. After explaining about Isaac she told me that she was on her way. Bella was starting to calm down, so I started ushering her towards the office.

She was still sniffling when we arrived in the office, Mrs. Cope, the secretary, was shocked to see me bringing in the crying girl.

"What happened Edward?"

"A baby we both know in the NICU died last night. I've already called and her mom is on her way to get her." I'm not sure what it was about her Mom being on her way, but both women's eyes went wide and Bella slipped out of my arms and was on floor. She was sobbing so hard.

I bent down to help her up as Mrs. Cope flew around the desk and fell to the floor; grabbing onto Bella and soothing her.

"What…"

"Go to class, Edward. She'll be fine. Tell your teacher to talk to me later about a tardy slip." I sighed, turned, and left the office listened to Bella Swan sobbing her eyes out.

When I got to lunch, I found Rose and Angela waiting at the doors of the cafeteria for Bella.

"She went home after Biology."

"Why? Is Tanya alright?" Angela gasped.

"What do you know about Tanya?"

"She told us all about her Edward." Rose sighed, rolling her eyes. "What happened?"

"Last night one of the other babies was rushed out of the NICU to emergency surgery. Bella was there when it happened. She asked me what happened with him. He didn't make it. I called her mom to come and get her. Which, by the way, before she makes me out to be some huge asshole; I didn't mean upset her further. I'm…"

"What did you say to her?" Rose growled at me and I took an immediate step back.

"Nothing really. I just told Mrs. Cope that I already called Bella's mom to come get her and the girl collapsed on the floor in tears." Both of the girls looked at me as if I was crazy.

Then Angela gave me strange look and blurted out; "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"Edward, Bella's mom is dead."

"How?"

"Look. We shouldn't have even said what we did." Rose started, "It was discussed in group and what is talked about in the group stays there. You want to know? You need to ask her. And try being nice for once. She's been through a lot."

Bella Swan was on my mind for the rest of the day. So her mom was dead. That did explain a lot. That would be why Sue told me that Bella had had nowhere to go in Phoenix. But could that also explain the comments everyone was making that Bella had gone through a lot? And what about the nurse asking Leah how Bella was physically? By the time that I went to bed, I had convinced myself that Bella had not been on drugs, like I had originally thought. I had come to the conclusion, that there could only be only logical answer. That conclusion was that Bella and her mom had been in a bad car accident and where Bella had survived but went into premature labor; her mother had died. I really could figure out why I cared what happened but I was smart enough to know that if I wanted answers I was going to have to play nice.

The next day I was anxious to get to biology. I did owe her an apology for making her cry yesterday. There were some manners in me and I did make her cry with the Mom statement. Plus, I didn't want her step sister hunting me down. But she didn't show up for class. In fact, she didn't show up all day. I could not help but worry that something had happened to Tanya. I almost called the NICU at lunch but decided against it. It wasn't my business after all.

Bella returned to school on Thursday. When she walked into the biology class room she was so happy and smiling so much that it was literally radiating off her. But Dr. Banner started class before I could ask why she was so happy. Dr. Banner was assigning us our term projects today. We were going to have to work together as a team to come up with an idea and see it through and then we would present to the class. He gave us the second half of the class to get started.

"So, any thought on what you want to do?" I started.

"Not really, yet. But I was thinking that we could get together on Saturday and brainstorm. _We_ can come over to your house. I'd invite you to mine, but the Dad and Seth have the guys from LaPush coming down to watch some game and we wouldn't be able to concentrate."

"We?" Who the hell was she thinking about bringing with her?

"Yep. Tanya is coming home tonight!" Bella was literally bouncing in her chair which made me laugh.

"Bella! That is great news! Are they having a going home celebration for her?" 

"Yes. I wish that you could be there. I mean…after Isaac…and all…but I am leaving for the hospital right after this class." She stuttered.

"Well congratulations. That really is great news. I've unfortunately seen too many babies not win their fight and even more unfortunately I am starting to get used to the disappointment. By the way, I am sorry that I made you cry, it wasn't my intention."

She looked down and muttered something that sounded like 'which time', but she looked up at me and responded louder "That's ok. You didn't know." The bell rang signaling the end of class. " Maybe we could start talking things over at lunch tomorrow. You know do some brainstorming in the library?"

"I'm not going to be in class tomorrow morning. I'm attending Isaac's funeral."

"Oh."

"So, I guess it is going to be Saturday at my house?"

"Sounds good to me. Besides, it will give your mom a chance to meet Tanya before she starts watching her."

"What!" What did she say? What about mom watching Tanya?

"Didn't you know? Your mom volunteered to watch Tanya while I'm at school and Sue is at work."

"She did not say anything to me about that. But that's cool." She was headed out of the door, but there was one more question that I wanted to ask before she left.

"Bella, I have to know something." She paled visibly. Probably with the thoughts of all the questions that could be swimming through my head.

"Bella, how did you end up naming you daughter Tanya?"

"Oh," she sighed and smiled a little. "It was my mother's name." And with that she left the room.

A/N:

A couple of answers and Tanya gets to go home! But poor Isaac. NICU is not always the happiest place with happy endings. Come hang with me on twitter!


	7. Chapter 7

LL Chapter 7

I entered the cafeteria at lunchtime to find that Rose was sitting with us again. Well of course she was, Bella was gone at the hospital picking up her daughter. Damn, I always loved seeing the babies graduate out of the NICU. It was one of the few high points in the department.

As soon as I sat down at the table Rose decided to get on my case.

"Did you make her cry again, Edward? Is that the reason she left school again?"

"No, smartass, she left for the day because they are releasing her daughter from the hospital."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Why the hell would I lie about something like that?"

"Because you're a jerk. And why the hell would she tell you anything about her daughter anyway."

"I don't know, Rose. Because, I've actually met and held the baby? Because we are lab partners and we have to start working on our semester project together and she was warning me that she was bringing the baby over with her?"

"What do you mean 'she's bringing the baby over with her?"

"They are coming over on Saturday morning to work on the project."

"Oh, damn, I have to work." I found it strange that Alice sounded upset that she was going to miss Bella's visit because they weren't exactly friends.

"I'm sure that you will get plenty of chances to meet Tanya. Apparently Mom has already agreed to babysit her when Sue's working for Dad." They all sat there looking stunned and it was effectively the end of any meaningful conversation at the table.

The next day I afforded my self the opportunity to sleep in a little again. I laid there wondering if Bella had gotten any sleep the night before. I don't think I would have. I would have been too terrified that something was going to happen to the baby to get to any sleep. Then I started wondering why I cared at all. I decided that I really did not care. and was just reacting from the loss of Isaac. I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower to start getting ready for the funeral. Mom and Dad had agreed that I could just skip the whole day since I had to drive all the way to Port Angeles and back.

This was not the first funeral that I had attended a funeral like this, but it was never easy. No parent should ever have to bury their child. EVER. But these babies never even got a chance to start living, never made outside in the fresh air. I did not have to attend the funerals. That was not part of my job. But in my heart, while I always felt like I had to be to there to offer the parents my support and if I was being honest with myself, part of my reasoning was that I had allowed myself to get attached to the babies too.

By the time that I left the reception after the funeral, I went straight to the hospital for my shift in the NICU. But with Tanya being released the unit was patient-less. So, I decided to grab some doughnuts for the morning and a local bakery that I loved and headed home.

I was completely exhausted by the time that I dragged myself into the house. I sat the pastries down on the coffee table and collapsed onto the sofa intending to do nothing but sleep the night away. Mom woke me a couple of hours later to see if I wanted dinner. I told her that I wasn't hungry and was just going to head up to my room and to my bed.

I vaguely remember noticing that the pastry box was gone but I was too tired to comprehend much.

When I woke up the next morning, I realize that I never came up with any ideas for the project. Shit. This wasn't good. Not after the way that I treated her. I grabbed my laptop and ran downstairs to get a cup of coffee and a doughnut. But the doughnuts were nowhere to be seen. At all.

"Mom? Where are the pastries that I bought?"

"I'm sorry, Edward. Emmett, Rose, and Jasper came over last night and I did not even realize that they had finished off the box until they were gone or I would have saved you one."

I groaned. "Those were for this morning. Bella is coming over to work on a school project and bring Tanya."

"Oh. We thought you got them for dessert. I'm sorry, sweetie. I'll run out and get more if you want?"

"That's ok. I don't know that she would actually have eaten them anyways. She never eats anything but salads and water for lunch at school." For some reason she quirked her eyebrow at me but said nothing as she went back to washing dishes and I went to work trying to come up with some ideas for our project.

When Bella showed up an hour later with Tanya in tow, Mom grabbed the baby right out of Bella's arms and shooed us off to work on our homework.

"You know, it is the same thing at home. I'll be sitting there holding her and before I know it, someone is grabbing her from me and taking off with her." Bella laughed.

"At least your family is supportive and helpful. I had grabbed us doughnuts but my family snarfed them all while I was sleeping."

"That's ok. I'm on a strict diet. Doctor's orders—no junk food. Among other things."

"Well then, it's a good thing that Emmett showed up and is a pig so that you weren't tempted."

"It's a very good thing because I would have a very hard time saying no to a doughnut."

I had to struggle hard to fight back the urge to blurt out that she obviously had trouble saying 'no' to anything. But I did not want make her cry with my mom just in the kitchen. I would have been in major trouble for disrespecting a guest in our home.

"Now, I had an idea that is interesting. Well, to me at least, since I am going to become an architect. I was thinking about looking design considerations for solar cell powered homes."

"How do you plan on becoming an architect when you have a baby? College is completely off the table for you now."

"No it's not!" Bella said indignantly. "Just because I chose to have the baby does not mean that my life is over. I _am_ going to college."

"Sounds like you've rehearsed that line."

"You're not the first person that has questioned my ability to continue my education just because I am mom. I when I delivered my baby my brain didn't come out with her." She snapped at me.

Having seen her angry and defensive before and not wanting to get punched again, I decided that apologizing would be a smart thing to do. And she apologized in return for snapping at me.

"I am not going to let them win by taking my dreams from me, too." Was all she said and she refused to elaborate on what she meant by that. So, we settled down to work on the project and got a really good start on the outline when we heard the front door open and Jasper coming in with Alice and Emmett. Bella made a bee line for Tanya and started packing her stuff to go.

"You don't have to go, you know. You guys can stay and hang out with us."

She looked shocked at my invite to stay but declined because Tanya's immune system wasn't very strong yet and she didn't want to take any risks with her. I understood that and walked her to her car.

"Bella, you said you named your daughter after you mom, right?"

"Yes." She leaned against her car.

"Rose said that your mom died."

Bella closed her eyes and sighed, but answered anyways, "Yes, she did."

"May I ask how she died?"

She hung her head, "I was at my six month check up. I was having a lot of complications with the pregnancy but they had expected that. They did another ultrasound that afternoon and we were finally able to tell that she was girl. I rushed home to tell mom. I found her in her room. She had washed two bottles of pain killers down with a bottle of vodka. It was my fault she felt so guilty about everything that had happened. I had Tanya that night." She was starting to cry, so I reached out to put my arm on her shoulder but she shrugged me off say that she would be just fine. And then she got into her car and was gone. I was left standing in the driveway dumbfounded about what she just confided in me.

A/N:

Ok. This is it for the weekend. I should be on twitter every so often but I will be busy. I don't generally get time to write on weekends and I know I won't this weekend. My 13 yr old niece is coming for the weekend and we are planning to channel our inner Alice's and hitting the mall. Plus we have a family outing to see Potter tomorrow night. So sad that's over. I will get replies to all reviews this weekend though.


	8. Chapter 8

LL Chapter 8

Sick days

I woke up on Sunday morning feeling like death warmed over. Dad came up to check on me and declared that I did have a fever and needed to spend the day in bed. So, that is exactly what I did. For the rest of the day, when I wasn't in the bathroom throwing up, I was passed out in my bed. The next morning, I thought that I was feeling well enough to go to school, even though mom was trying to insist that I stay home.

I should have listened to her. By fourth period, I was completely dog sick again and cranky was an understatement in describing my mood. I was ready to just call it a day and go home. I was sitting with my head down on my lab table when Bella sat down next to me and made the mistake of trying to talk to me.

"You as look as bad as I feel today." I tried to be civil, I swear, I really did, but I failed miserably.

"Well at least I have the excuse of being sick. You don't have a good reason for feeling for feeling or looking like crap."

"I didn't say that I felt like crap. I'm just exhausted. Tanya was fussy all night and I didn't get to bed at all. And you don't have to be so nasty to me."

"Like I said; no _GOOD_ excuse. Your baby…Your problem."

"You don't have to be a complete asshole. Especially since it benefited you as I spent the whole night doing more research on our project and completed our final outline and plans. I made some changes to our original plans-"

"Who the hell gave you the right to change our project? Don't you think consulting me would have been nice instead of making executive decisions on your own?"

"Oh calm down! Nothing is set in stone, if you disagree with what I did, we can change it back. " She yawned and rolled her eyes before she turned her head and laid it down on the table and closed her eyes. I was just thinking that I was glad that we did not have a lab today because there was no way that either of us would have been alert enough to do well when the bell rang and Bella woke up completely and turned into Hermione Granger on speed. I swear she had an answer for every question that Dr. Banner asked and even had the nerve to clarify the answer that I gave to one of Dr. Banner's questions. My answer was correct and complete and I didn't need her butting in with her two cents trying to show me up. When the bell rang, I called her a bitch, walked out of the classroom, went straight to my car, and drove home.

I was sick and I angry that she would attempt to humiliate me like that. I spent the rest of the day and the night in bed as well as the whole following day. Most of the time I was awake I was stewing about that biology class. I was still furious with her audacity.

Finally by Tuesday afternoon I was feeling a little better, so I got up to get some juice from the kitchen only to find Bella talking to Mom at the front door. I stayed right where I was on the stairs, where I was hidden enough that I could hear their conversation but not be seen.

"I'm sorry, dear; he's really sick and has been in bed since yesterday. You shouldn't go anywhere near him. It would not be safe for the baby to be exposed to his germs."

"I know. The doctors made sure that I understood that her immune system is compromised right now. I'll go. I just wanted to drop off some notes I made on our project for him to look over, as well as some notes from class. I know how hard it is to catch up when you've been gone from class."

"Thank you Bella, I am sure that Edward will appreciate your kindness. You are just too sweet. I'll make sure that he gets these. I'll see you tomorrow at your house."

"Thanks again Mrs. Cullen for offering to watch Tanya. I appreciate it more than you know."

"It's no problem sweetheart." Then I heard Bella going down the front steps and back to her car.

"What a sweet child, it's a shame that she suffered the way that she has…" I heard mom muse to herself before she realized that I was now standing behind her. She handed me the notes and then checked my fever by using the old mom standard method of putting her lips on my forehead. Once she was satisfied that my fever had broken she went back to the kitchen to finish supper and I decided that lying down on the couch for a minute before continuing into the kitchen sounded like the best idea of the year.

When I woke up a couple of hours later, I found a blanket over me and heard the rest of my family at the dinner table. The smell of the food was making my stomach churn again so I high-tailed it back to my room. Once I was there I grabbed my phone and sent a text to Alice asking her to bring me some 7-UP when she was done eating.

I decided to stay out of school the next day for good measure but I returned on Wednesday. I had a lot of work to catch up on plus I still had yet to review the notes that Bella had dropped off regarding our project. I was wondering what she was playing at or what exactly she wanted from me by being nice and doing me a favor. Especially since I had been so nasty to her, I mean after the way I treated her why would she even consider being nice to me? She had to want something. But I was not going to go out of my way to find out what it was. If she wanted something from me then she needed to straight out ask me so that I could straight out turn her down. I was not going to play games with her or anyone else.

A/N:

Ok. I lied and I am sorry. I didn't get to reviews until last night and I hope that I got to everyone's review, I am sorry if I missed anyone. There are some great theories and at least one of you is close. Next update should be tomorrow.

As for FYH, if anyone has been to France or lives in France, if you could please contact me, I am looking for ideas for spending Valentine's Day in Paris.


	9. Chapter 9

LL Chapter 9

State of Confusion

Ok. The girl was just as insane as I originally thought she was. She was ignoring me completely. I mean, why would she be nice enough to bring me the notes that I missed and then not even acknowledge my existence the first time that she saw me? What the hell is that about? I decided that plain and simple the girl was crazy and I did not need or want "crazy" in my life.

But she was really starting to irritate me, in both classes we had together, with her know it all routine trying to impress the teachers by making the rest of us look bad. Well, two could play at that little game sweetheart. Come Monday, she would figure out quite quickly that I was smarter than her in every way.

I caught up with Alice on her way to the cafeteria for lunch and told her that I was going to spend my lunch hour in the library due to the need to catch up on the work that I missed and I did not think my stomach was up to all the food smells in the cafeteria. Really, I was starting on my plan to make sure that the Swan girl knew who the smartest kid in school was. I mean if she was so smart, she would have known how to say no, or at least how to properly use birth control.

The rest of my day went pretty quietly. Jasper and Emmett caught up to me on my way to my car after school to see if I was up for shooting some hoops and hanging out the next day. I was. I still was on a break from the NICU as they were still patient-less. If it continued much longer, they would temporarily reassign me in another pediatric unit. I had done that before. I did not mind helping where they needed me, most of the kids in the older units just wanted a friend or visitor that wasn't related to them. As one kid put it, he knew his family loved him but they were obligated to visit, he just wanted one visitor that was there by pure choice.

The next morning I came downstairs to find Mom letting the Swan girl in the house. I figured she must be babysitting again so I ignored them and continued to make my way into the kitchen until Mom stopped me.

"Edward, be a dear and help Bella take her things up to the guest room across from Alice." I definitely heard that wrong. She did not just say that the Swan girl and her baby were staying here. Mom grabbed Tanya from her and started cooing at the baby.

"That's not necessary, Mrs. Cullen, I can manage."

"Nonsense, Edward would be happy to help you out." Yeah, I'd be happy to help her right back out the door. But I sighed and grabbed up a couple of the bags and started up the stairs.

I dropped the bags on the bed and turned to leave but she was standing in the door blocking my way out.

"Look, I know you don't want me here. But it was the only option that made sense. Sue and Seth both have that flu and neither of us can be there. But we were both exposed to the germs and since your father is a doctor it is better for both of us to be close in case of problems. Besides, it will be more convenient since your mom is babysitting for me."

"Fine, whatever. Just get out of my way, I have plans with my friends and I am running late now." She looked down and just moved to the side and I went back downstairs to the kitchen to get something to eat before Jasper and Emmett came to pick me up. She was just coming down the stairs when I heard Emmett's jeep pull up, I yelled goodbye to mom before running out the door.

After spending so much of the week laying in bed it felt really good to get out and play ball. We spent the whole morning on the court before deciding to go back to my house to clean up and play video games. I had forgotten that we had a house guest until I saw her car parked in the drive way. Damn. I hated that she was here invading my space.

The three of us went upstairs to shower and change. I let Emmett use my shower, while Jasper used Alice's and I used my parents'. I reached the downstairs at the same time that Alice came home from work. We both walked into the living room together only to see Jasper and Bella sitting on a blanket on the floor playing with the baby.

"What's going on here?" She was angry. You could not only hear it in her tone but you could see it in her face too.

But Jasper was always really good at diffusing her anger. He made a beeline for her, kissed her on the cheek, and led her back to the blanket and whispering in her ear. I do not know what he was saying, nor did I want to know, but whatever it was was making her giggle.

"Have you met the beautiful Tanya yet, sweetheart?" He asked her and Alice sat down and started playing with the baby too.

Rose showed up then for an afternoon of girly shit she had planned with Alice to get ready for their dates with Jasper and Emmett. She saw Bella in the room ran for her giving her a big hug. I swear the girl was like a fricken magnet the way that everyone was gravitating to her. Except for me, she wasn't going to suck me in too with that baby.

"BELLA! I didn't know you were going to be here! Are you here to work to dipsh** on that project or did Alice invite you to join us." Rose looked between Alice and I.

"Don't look at me. I didn't invite her over."

"Uh…neither actually…" Bella spoke up and then she went on to explain that she was staying here because Tanya couldn't be exposed to the flu. Then my twin sister did the unthinkable and turned traitor on me.

"You and Tanya are more than welcome to join us. If you want to that is." Really Alice? 'Et tu Brute?' I just glared at my sister for betraying me Bella must have caught the look I was giving my sister because her response was hesitant.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Of course it's a good idea. Come on, Al and I have a lot of fun with facials."

I caught all three girls looking up at me. Two of them wary and Rose was just daring me to say something mean. I just turned back to my game and ignored them the rest of the conversation. I did notice however that Bella did not stay in the living room with us, she took the baby and disappeared.

Hours later, after Jasper and Emmett had gone home to change for their dates and both had returned to pick up the girls I found myself sitting at the kitchen table doing some homework when mom asked me to set the table. I started to hand her back one plate when she handed me four, because Alice was out, but then I remember that we had a house guest. Damn, I had almost forgotten that she was here again.

When mom sent me upstairs to tell her that dinner was ready I found her sitting in a rocking chair that wasn't there this morning. She was rocking a sleeping Tanya and reading her history book for school. They both looked so utterly peaceful I was a little sorry to have to disturb them.

"Dinner's done if you're hungry?"

She startled having not heard me approach. "Yeah, I'll be right down. I just need to transfer her to her crib."

Did she think that I cared? I just shrugged and left the room mumbling "whatever". I

When I got to the dining room I found dad setting some strange casserole on the table that mom had never made this before.

"What is this?"

"It's a low fat, low cholesterol chicken casserole." Mom answered coming into the room with a salad.

"Since when do we eat like we're heart patients?" I asked a little aggravated.

"We could all stand to eat a bit healthier." Dad answered in that warning tone of his that said clearly that I was getting out of line.

Bella walked into the room and sat down across from me. "It smells great; Mrs. Cullen, but I told you that you didn't have to go through any trouble for me."

"It was no trouble at all Bella. And I told you to call me Esme."

So it was the Swan girl's fault that we were eating strange health food. Although I had to admit that the casserole wasn't _that_ bad even if it did have carrots in it. Bella noticed that I had been picking them out of the casserole and putting them in a napkin and was failing miserably at holding back her giggles. When I tried to glare at her she started to outright laugh at me, saying that she was unaware that anyone over the age of three still attempted to hide their vegetables in their napkin.

"I'm not hiding _all_ my vegetables. I'm eating the broccoli and the cauliflower."

"So what did the carrots to offend you so much that you cast them aside?"

"They taste funny. That's all." That just made her laugh at me even harder for some reason. After she finally calmed down we finished our supper in silence. It was my turn to do the dishes and I was standing at the sink running the water when Bella came in with her plate and stood behind me.

"Do you need any help?"

"Nah, I've got this. But do you have time to work on that project tonight? I'd like to get it done as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I have no plans except doing homework." Then I heard Tanya start to fuss through the baby monitor that Bella was carrying with her and she ran out of the room to get her.

A couple of hours later we had made a lot of head way on the project when it became glaringly obvious that Tanya needed a diaper change. I needed a break myself and got up to get a soda and left Bella to change the baby. In a moment where I actually remember my manners, I grabbed her one too.

"Thank you, but I don't drink soda."

"How can you not drink soda? I live on the stuff." 

"I used to too, and I miss it terribly." She sighed.

"Is it all soda that you can't have or just regular soda? Can you have diet?"

"It's the caffeine I can't have. I can't have coffee either. It sucks when I've been up all night with Tanya and then I have to make it through a day at school" She must have noticed that it was all starting to fall into place for me. She was on a low fat diet, no caffeine, and she said that there had been complications….oh shit…

"I was having blood pressure issues throughout my pregnancy. Finding my mom the way that I did sent me over the edge and made my blood pressure skyrocket. They were already talking about inducing labor that night when things went from bad to worse and I had a heart attack. I've been under so much stress since she's been born that we still haven't been able to get my blood pressure back to acceptable levels."

"Oh." That was my brilliant response. But what else was I supposed to say to her. Sorry you have health problems because you went sleeping around and wound up pregnant? It wasn't my problem. It did suck though that she now had a bad heart. I mean it was apparent that Tanya's father wasn't going to be in her life but she could have lost her mother too. And even I had to admit that Bella was a good mother and took excellent care of that baby.

We worked for about another hour before Bella said that she needed to give the baby a bath and put her to bed. I retreated to my room and turned on some music while I did some other homework. But I really could not help but think about Bella and her problems. I wanted to know why she was in a victims group. I also wanted to know what had happened to Tanya's father I wondered if she would tell me if I asked her straight out at breakfast in the morning? I mean she did volunteer all of the other information she had given me without my asking. I decided that she probably would not as these questions were extremely personal it wasn't my business. I wasn't her friend and didn't want to be. I figured it was best to just to keep minding my own business as I settled into my bed to go to sleep.

A/N:

Another answer about Bella, and more Jekyll and Hyde as many of you are calling him! Lol. But there is more to her story. There will be another chapter tomorrow. Come join me on twitter. I'm branson101. I whine a lot about the skunks, the flooding, the heat, and I brag on my son whose new nickname is neener-teenage whiner. Poor thing is thirteen and more hormonal that a woman pregnant with triplets!


	10. Chapter 10

LL Chapter 10

'The moonlight lights the way into the forest of knowledge'

If I had ever considered having kids in the near future, tonight would have surely put me off of them. I was fast asleep until the whole house was woken by the shrillest, loudest scream known to man. And it would not stop. It had been over a half an hour and I was just contemplating going out to my car so that I could escape the noise and get back to sleep when there was a knock on my door.

When I opened my door I found Bella standing there with a screaming Tanya, she was on the verge of tears herself and she was begging for me to help her.

"Please Edward, could you please hold her for just a minute. I wouldn't bother you but neither your parents nor Alice will answer their doors, and she won't let me put her down, and I really, really, really have to pee so badly. PLEASE! I'll just be one minute. I promise!" She was literally bouncing up and down. So I did the only reasonable thing that I could and I reached out and took the screaming baby from her arms. She was gone faster than I could have imagined.

I looked down at Tanya, sighed, and walked down the hall to the guest room, sat in the rocking chair, and started trying to soothe her. She calmed down in a matter of seconds but had a serious case of the hiccups from all the crying she had been doing.

When Bella stepped out of the bathroom she was startled to see me sitting in the room with Tanya.

"That was three minutes." I teased her.

"I am _SO _sorry. I forgot to add in the time I needed to wash my hands."

"Well, since your tardiness was hygiene related, I guess I can forgive it…this time." I said with a smile.

"Seriously, thanks for holding her. The whole idea of taking her with me and holding while I-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…I get it. No need to elaborate."

"I can take her back now, if you want to get back to sleep."

"Nah, I'm up and she's good. I do need my phone though to see if Mom and Dad called or Alice. There is no way that they slept through that screamfest."

"I'm sorry she woke you. I can get it for you if you tell me where it is."

"I'm pretty sure that I left it on my desk." She left the room and I rested my head on the back of the chair and closed my eyes.

I knew Bella had entered the room again before she even had a chance to speak. "It was still in the pants you were wearing today." I thanked her and scan through my messages. Sure enough there was one from mom and dad. They had had one too many margaritas at the Webbers and decided to crash there instead of driving home intoxicated. I swear when my parents and the Webbers got together they reverted to their drunken college days. But there was no message from my sister so I sent a message to both her and Jasper's phones in hopes that one of them would respond.

I looked up to find Bella looking at me strangely, like I was an anomaly or something. She quickly looked away and moved to lie down on her bed not far away from where I sat in the rocking chair.

"I have a question that I was hoping you might answer for me."

"You have just _one_ question?"

"Ok. I have a lot of questions. But most of them would be very personal and none of my business."

"Ask your questions. I have nothing to hide. I have never been ashamed of anything that I've done or was done to me. Most everything about me in public knowledge back in Phoenix anyways."

"Why did you bring me the notes for the classes I missed?"

"What?" Given the confused look on her face it was obviously not the question that she was expecting.

"I mean, why were you being so nice to me after I was so nasty to you?"

"I did it because I was feeling guilty."

"What did you have to feel guilty about?"

"I was deliberately trying to piss you off. You told me that you think of yourself as the smartest person in the school and Rose reaffirmed that and told me that there was no way that you would be able to graciously tolerate someone else being smarter than you."

"But you kept doing it when I got back."

"But that was different."

"How?" 

"Because it was who I used to be. I used be the outgoing honors student before all this crap started happening to me."

We talked for the next hour about her life in Phoenix before her life went to hell, as she put it. At least, we talked until she fell asleep on me. Well, not _on _me, she was on the bed and I was still on the chair holding the baby. I sat there for a little while longer, holding Tanya, and thinking about the things that she had said and the things that she did not need to say. I knew that something wasn't right. The way that she had talked about her life before she got pregnant did not add up the type of girl that ended up pregnant and alone as a teenager. Lauren and Jessica, those were the types of girls that one would to expect to end up this way. This girl reminded me of my sister or Rose. I wanted so badly to ask her who Tanya's father was and where he was but I just could not get myself to ask that question. There was a part of me that did not want to know, that believed that remaining ignorant of the truth would be better, easier, because if my new suspicions were right then I had seriously misjudged her but someone had seriously hurt this girl.

Tanya was sound asleep, so I carefully put her in her crib and then I covered Bella with a blanket before I left the room. Unfortunately, I ran into Alice in the hall as I was leaving Bella's room at three in the morning. Crap, this was not going to look good at all. Alice just stood there starring at me with her eye brows raised. I just ignored her at returned to my room and back to my bed.

A/N:

So there you have a little more info on Bella and a sort of confirmation to some theories? Another update tomorrow is possible but I am not promising anything.


	11. Chapter 11

LL Chapter 11

Internal Musings

I laid awake for another two hours thinking about Bella and the things that she had said or rather had not said. What she had not said had spoken volumes about the truth of her past. But, NO! It didn't happen like that. It couldn't have. I mean, there is no way that such a sweet, innocent baby could be born of such a violent act. But it would explain Rose's sudden turnaround and instantaneous friendship with her…NO! NO! NO! NO! It didn't happen. I'm just tired and need some sleep and obviously not thinking clearly at all. I got up heading for my bathroom looking for anything that would put me to sleep. I found some Nyquil left over from my flu and took some.

Jesus, why is it so bright in here. I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock. It was after one in the afternoon. So, I dragged my a** out of bed and into the shower. I was starving from sleeping so late so I washed quickly and made my way downstairs to forage for lunch.

When I got downstairs all I found was my sister sitting on the couch with her laptop.

"Where is everyone?"

"Dad's at work and mom ran to the grocery store because we have absolutely nothing to eat in the house." She watched me intently like there was something that she was dying to say to me. I knew damn well what she wanted to know and she knew what I wanted to know to. It was why she deliberately remained silent on their whereabouts, to see if I would ask. But I wasn't in the mood to indulge her today.

"Well, if we have no food then I am heading for the diner to get some lunch. You want to join?"

"No. I have homework to catch up on. Have fun though."

I left and went straight down to diner and took a booth in the back. I placed my order and was paying on my I-phone. I had vaguely noticed that Lauren and Jessica were sitting at the bar but there was no one else in the diner except for the waitress and the cook both of whom were in the kitchen. I heard the bell over the door announce that someone else had entered and I looked up to see Bella entering the restaurant carrying Tanya's carrier.

She was struggling with the carrier and her bags and was on the verge of dropping something when she finally made it to the booth in front of mine. But seeing as her had been on Tanya, as it rightfully should have been, she did not see me here.

But I was not the only one who took note of her entrance. The two tramps at the bar noticed her and were already halfway over to her table. I knew that they were not looking for friendly conversation. These two were vapid b****** and thrived when making everyone else as miserable as they were.

"Hello Bella!" Lauren started in a horrifyingly fake sweet voice. Bella, at least, was intelligent enough not to trust her.

"Lauren. Jessica." She nodded at each in turn but said nothing more as she turned back to her daughter. But those two were not going to be ignored. They came up behind her as she took the blanket off of the carrier and reveal the baby underneath. As far as I knew, not many people at school had seen Tanya, even if they did know about her.

"Oh, she is so pretty and tiny." Lauren started with the fake sweetness again. "Such a shame her mother is such a slut."

"Yes. The poor baby. She'll probably never know who her daddy is, will she? I mean you'd have to attempt the impossible by narrowing the possibilities down a little." Jessica chimed in. Then the whole tone of the conversation turned a lot worse.

"You know, no one wants you here. Right?"

"Why don't you just go back to wherever it was you came from and make all us happy?"

I was half way out of my seat, ready to, well I do not know what I was planning to do exactly but I was not going to just sit there while they were verbally attacking Bella for no reason. But just as I was standing the bell over the tinkled again and Chief Swan came in. I breathed a sigh of relief. They were safe for the time being.

Chief Swan looked at Lauren and Jessica as he approached with apprehension. He knew that they were nothing but trouble but greeted them kindly anyway.

"Hello girls, I didn't realize you all were friends."

"Chief Swan, your granddaughter is so adorable we just could not resist coming over to coo at her a bit before we left. We have big plans this afternoon." I could guarantee that those big plans involved nothing but drugs. As soon as the girls were gone the Chief turned to his daughter.

"Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"

"No. They are just all talk and insults. Just like everyone else around here."

"I hate narrow-minded, small town idiots who can't see beyond their own noses. I'm sorry. I wish that I could make it stop, sweetie."

"I know dad. But we both knew it was going to happen when I moved here that it was not going to be easy."

"Do I need to sick your step-sister on them?" he asked with an obvious smile in his voice.

"Not yet, but I'm reserving the right to keep that option open for future use."

"Deal." And then the chief started playing with his granddaughter and my meal came. But by that point I did not have much of an appetite. I had come to the realization that I was no better than Lauren and Jessica. I too had been vicious and cruel to Bella. I had judged her to be something that she was not. Even though I did not have any confirmation of my beliefs being truth, I truly believed that they were nothing but truth. Bella Swan's fate had been forced upon her in a horrifying manner. As a new revelation hit me I jumped up, threw some money on the table, and ran from the diner. I was truly a disgusting and horrible person because Bella Swan had been raped and I had called her a whore for it.

A/N:

Ohhh….self discovery for Edward!

Sorry for the posting delay but life happens. And so does flooding and kids needing baby teeth pulled…which PSA…be careful how much milk you give your kids. Mine lives on the stuff and he has only had TWO baby teeth come out naturally, the rest have had to be pulled because the refuse to come out and the adult teeth are coming in behind them. The poor kid had four pulled yesterday. There will be another chapter tomorrow for sure. Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

LL Chapter 12

External Musings

I was sitting in my room on my bed. I was just sitting there with my forehead resting on my knees. I did not even remember getting home or the drive here. All I knew is that I had been sitting here for about two hours already lost in my head.

I was brought out of my thoughts by someone knocking on my door. My first inclination was to ignore whoever it was. I was not in the mood to be bothered or to be sociable even with my family. But then I thought that it could be Bella. I know she had seen me flee the diner earlier, so I called out to whoever it was to enter. It was just my nosy sister Alice.

"You look disappointed that it's just little ole me. I don't think that I really have to ask who you were hoping it _would_ be."

"I don't think that you really know anything."

"I know that I saw you come out of Bella's room last night or should I say this morning."

"Do not go there Alice! I was just helping her with Tanya for a minute." 

"At three AM?"

"Yes, Alice. Newborn babies _do_ have this nasty habit of waking up in the middle of the night. Anyways, the only reason that she asked me to help is that I was the only one home last night. She had to use the bathroom and needed someone to hold Tanya for a minute."

"Ok. But be careful ok. I mean she has a kid, Edward. She's exactly the kind of girl that you have been dead set on avoiding."

"Alice, I really think that you need to mind your own business. Did she join you and Rose yesterday for that girlie stuff?"

"No. She didn't, but I could hear that baby fussing in her room so I figured that she was too busy. Whatever."

"Be nice to her, Alice, ok? And the baby has a name. It's Tanya."

"Why are you defending her all of a sudden?" she narrowed her eyes at me. I knew that she was extremely suspicious of my change in attitude.

"Let's just say that I think that I was dead wrong about her and leave it at that."

"But—"

"No Alice. I'm not going to tell you why I think that."

"Mom wanted to know if you are coming down for dinner." 

"I'm not hungry."

"Bella will be back by then if that changes your answer."

"It definitely does not."

"Fine!" 

"She's not back yet?"

"No. It's Sunday."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well _DUH_! Even I know that she has group with Rose on Sundays."

"Yeah, right. Group."

And she left the room with a smirk on her face. I just remained sitting there. There was no way that I was going down to dinner tonight whether Bella was there or not. I was barely keeping down the tiny bit of my lunch that I did eat due to my guilt. I sat there for a while longer thinking about my behavior. About how horrible I had been to her. I made two concrete decisions while sitting there about something that I needed to do and something that I wanted to do. First, I needed to apologize to her for my nasty behavior. Second, I wanted to become her friend. I mean the girl was wicked smart. I mean she did manage to show me up in class more than once. Not to mention the knowledge and work ethic she showed just working on this project with me was beyond incredible.

I was tempted to turn on my radio but I was afraid that if I did then I wouldn't hear her come upstairs. I did not want to have this conversation with her with an audience. It was a private conversation and I wanted to keep it that way. I laid down on the bed on my side and closed my eyes and decided to just wait for Bella to come back and then I would go to her and make my amends.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew it was dark outside and there was a soft knocking on my door. Again I called for whoever it was to come in. This time it was Bella. I sat up quickly turning on the light blinding myself completely.

She stood at the foot of my bed rocking from one foot to another.

"You weren't at dinner. Your mom said that you weren't feeling well."

"Don't worry. I'm not sick or anything. I just wasn't hungry."

"Oh. Uh. I didn't know you were at the diner today til you ran out." She was staring at the floor.

"Yeah. I was about to make my presence known and scare off the tramp twins when your dad came in."

"Oh. Well. Have you ever heard the saying that the truth will set you free?"

"Yes."

"Well, nothing they can say hurt me unless I let them hurt me. They don't know the truth. I do. I take solace in many of the truths in my life so they can judge me and say whatever they whatever they want about me." She was actually smiling as she said this.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry that I misjudged you. I'm sorry for the nasty things that I said both to your face and behind you back. But most of all I am sorry for what you went through."

Her smile was gone in an instant. "What the hell do you know about what I went through?"

I had not intended to go here with her today. I wanted to prove to her that she could trust me first. "I have some ideas. I'm not stupid. There is a reason that you are in a victim's group Bella. And there are little comments that you've made that when added up can only lead to one conclusion."

"I'm not ashamed of what happened. It wasn't my fault." Great. Now I had made her start crying.

"I didn't saw that you should be or that it was. I just want to be your friend."

"Yeah, right. Sure you do. Why would you want to be friends with me?"

"Because you remind me a lot of me and I'm amazing."

"And conceited, too." She started laughing.

"Hey, I got you to laugh though, didn't I?"

"Yes. And very few people accomplish that these days. You really want to be my friend?"

"Yeah. I do." 

"I don't have many friends anymore. In fact my only friends, outside what's left of my family, are Rose and Angie."

"I think that it is time that we change that then."

She got up to leave the room saying that she had promised my mom she was only going to take a quick shower when she left Tanya downstairs with her. I told her not to worry about it. The real problem was going to be getting the baby _back_ from my mom.

She stopped right before she closed the door and turned back into the room blurting out "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For apologizing. For wanting to be my friend. For not asking me about what happened. I mean, I just talk about it so much in therapy and group. I get tired of having to relive it all the time."

"You're welcome. I won't ask you tell me any details but I do hope that one day you will trust me enough to confide in me."

"Maybe." Was all that she said and then she was gone and I was alone with my thoughts again. She was a lot stronger than I had given her credit for but now I was angry. I just prayed that she had been strong enough to see that the asshole was rotting in prison.

A/N:

Edward is maturing. I should get another out tomorrow sometime. My son is going out of town with my mom tomorrow through next Wednesday. That is if he lives til tomorrow. I took him to get a hair cut last night, and mind you the boy is 13, well, he turned to me in the middle of the salon and told me that I needed a hair cut too because I was starting to look like Severus Snape. Yeah, I was not inclined to say yes when he asked for Mc Donald's on the way home. Anyway, I might be able to actually write this weekend. And I guess I should put that pesky disclaimer that I own nothing this all belongs to SM?


	13. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Manic Mondays and Loose Lips

I groaned as my alarm went off. I knew that I really needed to drag my ass out of bed and get ready for school. I needed to be out of the house early this morning because in my haste to get home last night, I forgot to stop and put gas in my car for the week.

When I got to the kitchen for breakfast, I found mom and Bella standing by the stove. Mom was making eggs for Alice and Bella was feeding Tanya a bottle. I sat down next to dad and started wolfing down some cereal.

"Hey if either of you want to ride with me this morning you had better hurry, I need to stop at the gas station on the way." I told Alice and Bella.

"Thank you for the offer but I need to leave school a little early this afternoon if I am going to make it to Port Angeles on time. Which reminds me, Esme, I'll be back no later than 5:30."

"You aren't coming straight home from school?"

"No. Oh my God. Dad said that he told you about my appointment. I'm sorry. I didn't know that you weren't told about it."

"Oh dear. I have the hospital fundraiser committee meeting this afternoon. Carlisle? Can you leave the office early?"

"No can do. I am booked this afternoon and down two nurses. I'm going to be running late getting home as it is."

"Darn it."

"Don't worry, Esme. I'll cancel."

"I can babysit." I offered. You would think that I just sprouted a second head or that the one that I had started to spin around on my shoulders.

"Are you sure? I mean don't you have plans?" 

"I'm sure. I have babysat post NICU babies before by the way. I can provide references if you would like. And my only plans were to come home and watch TV."

"Thank you, Edward, so much." 

"No problem. You coming Ali?"

"No. I have to work after school so I'll drive myself."

I walked outside, got in my car, and took off for the gas station; I noticed that the mornings were starting to get a chill to them. It would not be long until winter hit. I had seen Bella's little used car in the drive as I had left and briefly wondered how well that was going to handle in the snow and ice? I wondered how old her tires were. If they were balding, she would need to get them replaced before the snows hit. I laughed as I pulled into the gas station and saw chief Swan's cruiser there. Why the hell was I worrying about Bella's tires for? That was the job of the man standing at the pump next to mine.

"Morning Chief!" I greeted him as I got out of my car.

"Morning Edward. How was my granddaughter this morning?"

"Hungry apparently. Bella was feeding her when I saw them."

"Yea. That little thing can eat like her Mama. I swear Bella was always hungry and I never understood where she put it all because she used to be so tiny. Sue is feeling better so Bella and Tanya should be able to come home tomorrow after school so they will be out of your hair."

I do not know why but the idea of Bella and Tanya going home bugged me. Ah, it must be because Tanya and I must have bonded the other night while I was holding her.

"Its fine, Chief. It has really been no problem having them there."

"Tanya hasn't woken you with her three in the morning, 'I want attention' fits yet?"

"Is that what that was Saturday night? Again, no problem Chief. I helped Bella out a little holding her and got her back to sleep."

"Ah. Speaking of helping Bella. Those girls, Lauren and Jessica, are nothing but bad news as I am sure you know."

"Yeah. I know. I don't think any of us are ever going to forgive Jessica for the way that she dumped on my sister."

"I heard about that through the grapevine. Will you do me a favor Edward?"

"Sure Chief. Just name it."

"Will you and your friends watch her back for me at school? Keep her from getting hurt? She's been through too much already. I am just thankful that the damn media blitz died off before she left Phoenix. That was a veritable shit storm to endure even if they weren't allowed to print her name or her picture as she was still a minor. The asshole press just wanted to make her life hell for pressing charges against two popular athletes in town."

"What?"

"Oh Shit! I thought you knew. She said last night on the phone that you knew."

"I knew in the abstract. I figured it out by some of the comments that she made, but she never went into the story or any details."

"She's going to kill me."

"I won't tell her you said anything. It can just be between us."

"Nah. I'll come clean with her. It's not like she hasn't shared what she remembers before. I'll stop by your house after she gets home from school this afternoon and talk to her."

"She said she had an appointment in Port Angeles this afternoon. I'm babysitting for her." 

"Oh Crap. I forgot about her therapy appointment! DAMN! Are you sure that you are ok with sitting? I can come over and watch her."

"I'm good. The NICU in Port Angeles has been empty since Tanya was discharged so I have haven't been volunteering and truth be told I am kinda missing holding a baby in my arms."

"I guess I will just talk to her when she get home tomorrow night. You're a good kid, Edward. I'll see you later."

"Bye Chief Swan."

When I got to school, I sat in my car lost in thought. I had new answers to my questions and again the truth brought mixed emotions. It was horrifying and I was pissed to find out that it was not one guy, it was two. On the other hand, I was damn proud of her for standing up to them and everyone else and pressing charges. I just hoped that she won those scumbags were rotting in prison.

A/N:

More answers about Bella, but there is more to her story. There will be more this weekend as I am alone and the house is quiet. Well, I still have the five cats but the mostly sleep.


	14. Chapter 15

LL Chapter 15

In a New Light

The things that I found out about Bella from her father this morning were still weighing on my mind when I got to biology. We had another lab to work on in class today. Thankfully, it was one of the things that Bella and I had worked on Saturday night. We were more than ready to work on this. This was a good thing because I could not keep my focus. All through class all I could think of was the pain and torment she had gone through. I could literally see the damn photographers chasing her, and God, the thought of her having to sit in court and face not one but two monsters made my blood boil.

I had not realized that I was staring at her until she commented on it.

"Do I have something on my face?"

"No. Why?"

"Then why are you just sitting there staring at me."

"Sorry, I didn't realize that I was. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"It's ok. I guess. I'm not uncomfortable, just self-conscious."

"Sorry again."

"It's ok Edward. But really, are you going to help me with this lab or am I on my own?"

"Is that your way of say that you can't do it yourself and need my intelligence?"

"Oh. You wish you were as smart as I am Edward Cullen!"

"I'm not as smart. I'm smarter."

"Am not!"

"Am too!" 

"Am not!"

"Am too to infinity."

Bella started laughing hysterically at that. "You so did not just say that." She was laughing so hard that she started to fall off her stool and I lunged to grab her before she hit the floor. Of course, now I was laughing, too. At that point, the whole class had stopped what they were doing, and were staring at us as if we were insane. Of course, they would think that I had lost it. I had never behaved this way in class at all.

"Mr. Cullen? Ms. Swan? Is there a problem?" Yeah, we even attracted the attention of the teacher.

"We fine Dr. Banner. Sorry for the interruption." Bella apologized for us and we got back to work. A few seconds later, I heard a small noise coming from Bella. I looked over and noticed that she was biting her lips and looked like she was fighting something like a cough or a sneeze.

"You ok?"

"Mmhmm?" was all that she said adding a nod but looking away from me.

"Are you sure?"

"Mmhmm." Then she looked over at me and a couple of laughs started to escape her lips.

"I hope that you are not laughing at me young lady." I said sternly.

"Of course not. I would _never_ laugh at you." Then she started out right giggling which earned us another stern look from Dr. Banner so we did our best to concentrate on the lab for the rest of class.

When biology was over, it was time to head to math. That was the only other class we shared together. She grabbed her stuff and stood to head out but I reached out and tugged on her ponytail. "Wait up. We'll walk together."

I know that she probably thought that I had gone insane for the complete turnaround in my attitude towards her. But I really wasn't treating her much differently than I treated Rose or Alice. With one exception, as much as I hated to say it, especially since Alice was my twin, but Bella was special but she could challenge me intellectually. Actually, she was the first person that I had ever met that could.

There was no time to talk in math as all we were doing was taking notes from the teacher's lecture. But I was taking time to look around the room. Everyone had noticed that Bella and I had walked into the class room together and that we were talking. As there were only a few people that I was willing to talk to I knew that people were interested in why I was talking to Bella. But what worried me the most was the fact that two people in particular were interested in the fact that Bella and I were being friendly, Lauren and Jessica. That worried me greatly. They would not hesitate to use anything they could to make her life a living hell.

After math was over it was time for lunch, and it was about time too. I was starving from not eating dinner last night and only having cereal this morning.

"Hey Bella, would you like to start sitting with me and the rest of the group today?"

"You wouldn't mind?"

"No. I wouldn't mind. I told you that I wanted to be friends. Come on. I know that Emmett will be thrilled to have Rose back at our table again."

We were the first ones to get to the table. Bella bought her usual salad and I grabbed a burger, fries, and a soda. When we sat down I caught Bella staring at my lunch.

"You are drooling over my burger."

"I don't really care. I miss burgers."

'You can't have one at all?"

"I'm not allowed red meat at all right now. There was this old fashioned burger joint near my home in Phoenix with amazing burgers and shakes."

"You must miss it there."

"I do and yet I don't. I left too many bad memories there to really miss it."

"I get that." Then I looked up and saw that Rose, Jasper, and Emmett had entered the lunchroom and were staring at Bella and me like they were seeing aliens sitting in the lunch room. I just turned my attention back to Bella and asked if there was anything special I needed to know or do while I babysat for her this afternoon. I knew that I was going to be dealing with my sister and her nosy nature but what worried me worse were the sadistic smirks on the faces of Lauren and Jessica. They were up to something and it did not take a genius like me to know that whatever it was would centered around hurting my new friend Bella. And that was going to be fucking unacceptable.

A/N:

Happy Saturday! I am enjoying my quiet weekend without my son. From what I've heard is being a complete angel for Nana. Maybe more tomorrow. It depends on the call volume at work.


	15. Chapter 16

LL Chapter 16

Quality time with friends

By the time everyone had joined Bella and me at the table, Bella was looking so scared that I thought that she was ready to bolt from the room. Rose sat next to her and was whispering something in her ear while Angela was took the chair next to me and was smiling like she just won some lottery or something. Yeah, whatever.

"Hi, Edward."

"Hey Angela. I was sorry to hear about your aunt passing."

"It was my grandma."

"Was it? Oh sorry," I shrugged and turned back towards Bella and Rose only to find that she was looking more comfortable sitting with us. I do not know what it was that Rose said to her, but it abated whatever fears had bubbled in her brain because she was smiling again. It was so nice to see her smile yet again.

I spent the rest of the lunch hour engaged in a conversation with Bella and Rose about college applications and essays in an attempt to avoid my sister's questioning stare. I got why she was confused, I honestly did. I had deliberately avoided almost all contact with the females of this town since I hit puberty and now I was becoming good friends with the new girl. Add to the fact that the new girl also had a baby it went against every reason that I had ever given for avoiding dating. But I was not dating Bella and I had no interest in dating Bella. She was a merely a sweet girl that was forced into a hellish nightmare and that was not her fault. I could not understand how anyone could justify holding her situation against her.

"Thanks again for volunteering to babysit, Edward. I promise to get back as quickly as possible."

"Take your time. It's really not a problem. She's a good baby."

"Yeah, I bet you weren't thinking she was such a great baby when she kept us up until three in morning the other night."

Yeah, that got everyone's attention. Angela looked absolutely horrified at the implications that Bella's comment had had. But I really did not care at the moment. Hell, I knew that Angela had had a crush on me for a while, but damn, her life was pure perfection compared to what I knew Bella had gone through and I did not even know everything yet.

"It was no problem. And she really is a great baby." At that point the bell rang and we all stood to move on to our afternoon classes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Angela jump out of her seat and she practically ran out of the cafeteria.

Since Rose and I both had Government next she grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the cafeteria with her. It was not totally unheard of for us to walk together; it happened quite a bit actually. But normally we walked in silence. I reveled in that silence, but from the look on Rose's face I it looked like I was going to have to endure a conversation with her today.

"I would be totally surprised if Angela sits with us let alone talks to you ever again."

"How is that a bad thing again?"

"Come on Edward! She is a nice girl and for some reason she actually likes you."

"I don't care."

Rose's responding glare made me sigh and reevaluate my response, "Ok. I'll give you that she is a nice girl. BUT, she wants to go out with me and I don't like her like that. The sooner she realizes that it is never going to happen and gives up on me the better it will be for everyone involved."

"Is Bella a member of the "everyone involved" group?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Do you like Bella?"

"Ugh, Rose! Not like your meaning."

"Then why are you being nice to her? You are never nice to the girls in this school. You're rude and cold and you ignore them. What about her comment that you two spent the night together?"

"First of all, I think that she is nice girl, who is wicked smart, who has gone through hell, and I thought she could use another friend. Two, you are taking the comment she made way out of context. She spent the weekend at our house because people at her house had the flu and Tanya can't be exposed. Tanya started to cry in the middle of the night and at one point she knocked on my door to help so that she could use the bathroom. End of story."

"Okay. I'll buy that," she stopped and looked around making sure that we were out of earshot of anyone else, "You know about what happened to her?"

"I don't know everything that happened. I guess at one of the big points and she confirmed it, her father let slip a little bit more this morning when I ran into him." I paused running my hand through my hair, "I take it you know everything?"

"Yeah, she's pretty open about it in group, but she has had almost a year and a lot of therapy to help her cope." Rose turned to take her seat but stopped and looked me in the eye first, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being her friend. She really needs more people on her side." Then we took our seats as the bell rang again and the teacher started the lecture.

The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur and the next thing I knew I was entering the front door of my house and making a beeline for my buddy for the afternoon; a cooing and drooling Tanya, who was lying on her blanket on the living room floor with mom.

As soon as mom saw me come into the room she jumped up and grabbed her purse, "Thanks for doing this honey. You are so sweet. I'm sorry I have to run but I am already running late. I'll grab something to bring home for dinner so don't worry about that."

"Don't forget about Bella's diet restrictions!"

She head shot up and she looked taken aback by my comment, "I won't," she yelled as she ran out of the door.

I sat down where mom had been sitting and look at the baby lying there in front of me, "I guess it's just and me kid." She just smiled, drooled some more and grabbed at her feet.

Tanya and I had a great afternoon together. We read, she drooled, we had a snack, she drooled some more, then we had an extremely horrifyingly foul diaper change. And wouldn't you know that Bella would get home just five minutes after that diaper change.

She let herself into the house and joined us on the couch, "Thanks again, Edward. I really needed to keep this appointment."

"Was it with your cardiologist?"

"No, it was with my therapist. I'm still working out some anger issues I have with the whole situation."

"Ah. Did your dad get a hold of you yet?"

"No. Did he call?"

"No, I ran into him at the gas station this morning, I thought that he said that he was going to call."

"I'll call him after supper. Right now, if you don't mind, I would like my daughter back. I've been away from her all day and I've missed my baby."

I laughed as I handed her Tanya and then I went to the kitchen. I had made a pitcher of lemonade with my snack, so I poured both of us a glass and returned to the living room.

"I called Dad, and he said that you could have lemonade. It's not soda or a shake, but I thought it would make a nice change from the water you always drink."

"Thank you Edward, that was really very sweet of you."

A/N:

Jekyll. Hyde. And clueless. Lol.


	16. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

When the night falls

After Mom finally got home and we had our supper I retreated to my room. I had an English paper to get started on. A short time later I heard someone come upstairs and enter one of the bedrooms and a shower start. I returned to my essay only to be distracted again. This time it was a knock on my door. I opened the door to find my sister standing there looking upset. She pushed past me and came into my room and sat on the chair at my desk.

"Please come in and make your self at home," I grumbled sarcastically while grabbing my bottle of water and taking a drink.

"Are you sleeping with her?" Yeah, I choked on the water effectively spitting it all over my sister. What the hell kind of question was that?

"No. Why would you even think that? You know me."

"I thought I did. But you did come out of her room at three in the morning and you seem very close to her. You like her though don't you?"

"Look. She reminds me of you and Rose and she needs all the friends that she can get. Besides I thought you liked her too. You invited her to join you and Rose on Saturday."

"Only because Rose likes her. I'm not going to lose another friend like I did Jessica."

"This is not the same thing. Give Bella a chance. I did and you know that I have just as many trust issues as you do."

"Your issues are psychotic. I never really understood why you went so extreme. I'm not ready to be a parent either. But I have a social life. But with her, Edward, she's exactly the kind of girl you have trying to avoid."

"Trust me, she not. Look, it's not my story to tell and besides I don't have all the details. But my original assessment about her was completely wrong. Her and I are trying to be friends. Please give her a chance."

"I hate you sometimes, you know that? Fine. I will give her a chance. But I am not babysitting nor am I changing any diapers."

"Yeah, and you call me a spoiled brat." She reached down and grabbed an extra pillow that had fallen on the floor and hit me with it. We ended up in one hell of a pillow fight until one of us knocked over the lamp and broke it. Bella arrived at the room first and started laughing when she saw us standing there covered in feathers and looking completely guilty. Mom was hot on her heels coming to inspect what the crash was. When she walked in the room and noticed the mess of feathers and papers and broken glass she was angry. We are talking if her hands were free they would be on her hips but the Mom glare that made you shrink back kind of angry was in place on her face. Mom and Dad never hit us. Oh no, they knew how to punish by hitting below the belt by taking away whatever was most important to us at the time.

"He did it!"

"She did it!"

"Did not!" We both yelled out at the same time.

"Did too!" Again we spoke simultaneously. We were practically yelling in each other's face.

Bella started laughing and reached out to take her daughter from Mom, "Okay, that is way to déjà vu for me. I am out of here."

With her hands free Moms hands flew to her hips and she started lecturing us on how we were too old to act so childishly and that we were paying to replace the lamp and the pillows. But Mom being Mom ended the lecture with, "clean this mess up quickly and then come downstairs for dessert."

After Alice and I got the mess under control she took off to get some dessert. I wandered down to the guest room to see if Bella was coming down. I stood in the doorway and watched her as she was hovering over Tanya playing peek-a-boo with her. Tanya was letting out the cutest little giggles every time that Bella would reveal her face and start tickling her.

Finally Bella caught sight of me standing there and looked up at me, "Did you get the mess cleaned up?"

I came into the room and sat down on the bed next to Bella and took Tanya hand, "Yes, we did. We will have to go shopping tomorrow after school for new pillows and a lamp. You want to join us?"

"I'm going home tomorrow. Everyone is healthy and Dad said that the house was doused with Lysol and febreeze so it is safe for us to come back."

"That's good I guess. Are you coming down for dessert?"

"Yeah, let's go."

When we got down stairs Mom had made a tub of vanilla ice cream and a bowl of cut up fresh peaches and strawberries. It was strange that Mom had put the Strawberries in a separate bowl. She usually combined all of the fruit.

Bella sat Tanya in the baby swing in the living room before joining us over in the kitchen to get some dessert. I noticed that she only took the peaches. I teased her like she had me the other day, "What did the strawberries do to offend you?"

I could not fathom where the dark look in her eyes came from in a conversation about strawberries, but it was there. "I'm allergic," was all she said before she retreated from the kitchen leaving her ice cream sitting on the table. I grabbed it with mine and took off to catch up to her. I found her sitting in a chair close to Tanya but the look in her eyes told me that she was here with us but far away, most likely back in Phoenix.

A/N:


	17. Chapter 18

LL Chapter 18

Bad Memories

The moment that I saw that first tear escape her eye, the stupid ice cream was completely forgotten. I immediately went to her and knelt in front of the chair, but as I reached out for her hand she swatted me away. She still had that look in her eyes that plainly said that she was not here in this room with us and wherever she was in her head was not a happy place. I felt completely helpless as more and more tears fell from her eyes.

I felt Mom's hand touch my shoulder and I moved back out of the way. She crouched in front of Bella. She was deliberately not touching her but she leaned in and started talking to her softly. Pretty soon she had Bella nodding and agreeing to what she way saying.

"Alice, will you please help me get Bella up to her room."

"I can help you Mom."

"No, Edward. I need you to stay down here with Tanya."

I got it. I wasn't allowed to help Bella because I was a guy and that was the root of her problems. Bella allowed Mom and Alice to help her out of her chair and up the stairs. The last thing that I noticed they disappeared on the stairs was Alice's arm going around Bella's waist.

It was a good half an hour before Mom came back downstairs to find me sitting on the couch holding a sleeping Tanya. She had started to fuss so I had picked her up and rocked her to sleep.

"Bella is asleep in her room. I moved the basinet in my room and I have the baby monitor, so you can put her down in there."

"Is she ok?"

"She will be. There is just so much for her to deal with and she is so young. Not that anyone of any age should ever have to deal with the things that she has."

"You know the whole story, don't you?"

My Mom looked up at me with a concerned expression, "Yes, your father and I know everything. But, do _you_ know the whole story?"

"No. Only what I've managed to guess at and one thing that Chief Swan let slip."

"Which is?"

"She was raped by two guys. Tanya came from it and Bella's Mom killed herself out of guilt, for some reason."

"That's all? You haven't looked her up on the internet?"

"No, I told her when or if she trusts me enough to talk to me I would be here. I am not about to betray her trust by going behind her back like that."

"There's more to her story, Edward. There is a lot more. But it is for her to tell you, not me. I think you need to get to bed for school tomorrow."

"Will you at least tell me one thing? Just please tell me that they are in jail."

"Yes they are and they will be for a very long time."

"Thanks, Mom. Good night."

"Goodnight Edward. Oh and Edward. You are making your father and me very proud with the way that you have been there for her as a friend and the way that you have stepped in to help with Tanya."

"Thanks Mom." And I continued up the remaining stairs. I went into Mom and Dad's room and went to lie Tanya down. As I placed the sleeping baby down in the bassinet, I hesitated before I leaned back down and kissed her forehead. As I left my parents room I was torn between going to check on Bella and going to wash the day off with a hot shower. When I got to my room and was surprised to find her lying on my bed.

"I'm glad that you're in here. I have something to talk to you about."

"Well, I just thought that you would like to know that she has calmed down and fell asleep."

"Yeah, that's what Mom said." 

"She was hurt pretty bad."

"How do you know?"

"Edward, come on! I'm not stupid! She flipped out over strawberries! Not to mention that she wouldn't you touch her but Mom and I could touch her. That says she has an issue with men right there."

"Yeah, I guess your right about that."

"It's why she is different to you isn't it? Why you are protective of her? Why her and Rose are so close?"

"That would be yes to all of those questions."

"Damn it." I sat down next to my sister on the bed and she laid her head on my shoulder.

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Although I could through in a few more choice words that get me in major trouble with Mom if she heard me."

"Damn it!"

"You already said that."

"Well, I felt it needed repeating. I better go. I promised Mom that I would sleep in her room in case she needed anything."

"Speaking of being protective, Lauren and Jessica have it out for her. Will you help Rose, Emmett, and I watch out for her?"

"Of course. I get Jasper in this too."

"Thanks"

After my sister left the room I went for that hot shower. But it wasn't working. I could not get Bella's past out of my mind enough to let the hot water relax the tension away. I wanted to know who these guys were. And I wanted to know why her.

After my shower didn't work I decided to try reading a bit before going to bed but remembered that I had left my book downstairs in the living room. I was half way down the stairs when I heard my parents talking from the living room, "I wasn't thinking. I should never have brought those damn strawberries in this house with her."

"Esme, it's going to be ok. She is going to face triggers repeatedly for a long time. The only way for her to avoid it is by locking herself away. She'll even be faced with that possibility anytime that she goes to a restaurant and sees someone drinking a daiquiri. The more she faces the trigger the less it will bother her…hopefully."

"Hopefully?"

"It's not a perfect science and I specialized in cardiology, dear, not psychology."

"I just feel so bad for her." 

"I know."

"Edward knows a lot of it."

"Really? Did he Google her?" Ok. I was really starting to piss me off that my family thought so little of me that I would go behind her back and invade her privacy like that. I heard Mom set him straight on where I got my information and I waited for them to quiet before I finished going down the stairs to the living room.

After I made it back up to my room I crawled into bed to read. I must have fallen asleep reading because the next thing that I knew I woke up with a start in a cold sweat with my stomach clenching and the light was still on. I was having a nightmare, in which, Bella and I were running through the woods searching for Tanya. We could hear her crying in distress but we could not find her. It was like whoever had her kept moving her away from us. What the hell was that dream supposed to mean? I looked at the clock and realized that it was two in morning and I knew that I wasn't going to able to get back to sleep anytime soon so I went down stairs to get something to drink and maybe watch a movie.

When I got downstairs I found Bella curled up on the couch watching TV and sipping on a glass of lemonade. I went into the kitchen and pour myself a glass of lemonade and then I returned to the living room and sat on the couch with her, but far enough away that I would not be making her uncomfortable.

"You must think that I am crazy."

"Nope. I know enough about you to know that there is a reason behind your reaction to the strawberries."

"There is and I'd like to explain. If you want to hear, that is."

"I told you that when you were ready to talk I would listen."

"I came home that day and they were there waiting for me. They offered me this strawberry daiquiri. I told them that I was allergic to strawberries and retreated to my room. When I woke in the hospital six weeks later, I found out that when the police tested the mixture they found it spiked with rohypnol." She was speaking to her hands that she had folded in her lap. She didn't look at me once but I didn't care.

"You knew them then? The two guys?"

"One of them the former major league baseball star Eric Conners."

"Shit. I've heard of him. He got sent back to the minors because he was arrested so many times for minor assaults and bar fights that no major league team would touch him."

"That's him."

"Bella? Who was the other guy?"

Now she raised her head and looked me directly in the eyes, "He was my step-father; Phil Dwyer."

A/N:

There you go. More answers about Bella. But that is not all of it. There will be more tomorrow. Maybe with more answers. Not sure yet. 


	18. Chapter 19

LL Chapter 19

Talking Through the Night

Warning: this chapter touches on the sensitive topic of rape and suicide.

It was her stepfather. It was a man that her mother not only let near her, but also allowed into their home. I was speechless. When I figured out that she had been raped I assumed that is had been strangers or kids at a party or something like that. Never had I thought that the attack had occurred in her home; where she was supposed to feel safe and secure.

"You're upset. I can see it in your face."

"I hate you went through this. That upsets me."

"Me too. But I tried to fight them Edward. I really did."

"I believe you, Bella, but you really didn't stand a chance against two professional athletes."

"I never liked him. I begged my mom not to marry him. I really wanted her to break up with him. But she was pretty snowed by him."

"I hate to speak ill of the dead, but I do not like your mom right now."

"I feel the same way sometimes and sometimes I wish I had taken that damn drink. At least then I'd be dead and been spared from enduring the aftermath of all this shit."

I could not believe that she had just said that. Did she really wish that she was dead? My breaths started coming fast as if I was starting to hyperventilate.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"I don't know what to say to that. If you had, you would not be her and neither would Tanya. But then they also would not have…"

"That's the part that makes me feel like shit. No matter how she was conceived, I love my daughter."

We sat in silence for a bit before she looked at me again, "Edward, how did you know that it was two guys? I didn't tell you that."

"Uh, I ran into your dad this morning. He mentioned it. But in his defense he thought that I knew already. I'm sorry."

"He probably did think that. Since Rose and Angela know everything. Do you want to hear the whole story?"

"Yes and no. I mean if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."

"I talk about it all the time Edward. I talk about it in group. I talk about it in therapy. I had to tell the damn story about two hundred times to lawyers and in front of everyone in court."

"I don't want to pressure you to tell me though."

:You're not. You are going to end up finding out anyway and I'd rather you hear the whole thing from me than bits and pieces from everyone else. Ok. I may repeat things that you already know but it will be easier for me if I start at the beginning."

"Alright. Take your time."

"Ok. I never liked Phil. When mom started dating Phil I begged her to dump him. But she was too caught up in the fact that a young professional athlete wanted her. When she agreed to marry him, I begged her to let me ask dad if I could move up here. But she started crying that she would miss me too much and did not want to be left alone when Phil was on the road, so I caved. That's the decision that I regret the most.

On the night that they attacked me I had stayed late at school for a DECA Club meeting and my friend, Cassie, drove me home since Mom took mine for the day as hers was in the shop. She had plans to go out to dinner and clubbing with some ladies from work for a bachelorette party.

After I refused their drink, I went straight to my room stopping only to grab a baseball bat out of the hall closet. I locked my door, called Cassie, and begged her to come back and get me. I was throwing some clothes in a bag and trying to keep Cassie on the line with me.

After only a couple of minutes, they crashed through my bedroom door. They kicked it down to be more accurate. I dropped the phone and spun around yielding the bat. They both stood there and laughed at me. I swung at them as hard as I could but I was no match for them.

Eric grabbed the bat from my hand while Phil shoved me down on the bed. Eric swung the bat down on me repeatedly. He got my arms, my chest, and the last thing I remember before blacking out was when the bat made contact with my head. Like I said, I woke up six weeks later with a cracked skull, both arms broken in multiple places, and five broken ribs and I was pregnant.

The lucky thing about it is that I don't have any memories of actually being raped. I was unconscious through the whole ordeal. Cassie heard everything though. She called the cops and her mom, who was out with my mom.

Dad was there when I woke up. So was Sue. But Mom wasn't. She blamed herself for the whole thing, for bringing him into our lives, for not listening to me, for not being home that night.

I was so angry with everything at the time that I told her that I blamed her too. That I wished she had left me in Forks when I was a baby. I told her that I hated her. Over the next six months I thought that things were getting better with us but she was just pretending. She was drinking like crazy. I was so busy with healing and the pregnancy I wasn't paying close attention to her.

The day that she died, she went to work drunk, which considering that she taught kindergarten was definitely not acceptable. One of her students slipped out of the room when she wasn't looking and got the principal, she thought that Mrs. Dwyer was sick and needed to see the nurse. They fired mom when they found the vodka in her desk. She took her life that afternoon.

I named my daughter after her because I loved my mom and I know that she loved me. No matter if she could be held at fault for bringing him into our lives or that she took a coward's way out, I will always love her and miss her.

I was determined that those two bastards were going to pay. So I decided to help the cops prosecute them. They told me that it was going to be tough. Defense lawyers would do anything to discredit a rape victim. To make her out to be a lying whore.

But there wasn't anything in my past that they would be able to use. I was a virgin when they attacked me. I had never even been on a date before, let alone kissed. So the defense use the only other strategy that they could against me, public opinion.

They got the press to go after me and harass me. They even went after Cassie. They got to her so bad that she refused to testify and being a minor her parents could refuse to allow her to take the stand. So all I had was the physical injuries and the damn spiked drinks. Everyone turned on me, all of my friends and all of mom's friends. I had to stop attending school in person for my safety because the other kids were against me.

There are so many days that I cannot believe I won that trial. They both went to prison on several charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, felony child abuse, sodomy, and sexual assault of a minor child. They will each be in prison for many, many years.

Not only did I have to deal with healing from the physical injuries form the attack, because of the stress surrounding the trial, I developed complications with the pregnancy. You know about the preeclampsia but I also developed gestational diabetes.

I was in the hospital for weeks after she was born recovering. As soon as I was released Dad brought me up here. Tanya had to be airlifted, but Dad was going to drive me up here. I flipped out. I was not going to let her out of my sight. As they led Eric out of the court after sentencing he started yelling that he would make me suffer and that the moment Tanya was out of my sight for a second he make sure she was taken from me. That's why I kinda flipped out and hit you. I'm sorry for that again. As a nurse, Sue was allowed to fly up with her. But when I walked in and saw a strange guy with my baby I was terrified."

"Wow. I cannot believe that you are as strong as you are after going through all of that."

"I don't feel strong. I can't go to sleep without seeing them smashing into my room or the sight of my mom lying dead on her bed." Yeah, I could believe that.

"I have one question if you don't mind. I mean you don't have to answer it."

"Ask me."

"Do you know which one is her father?"

"No. There was a paternity test done but the results are locked in Dad's safe deposit box at the bank. I never opened it and don't plan on it. It doesn't matter anyway."

"No it doesn't." We sat there in silence for the longest time. I was trying to process everything that she had told me. FUCK! It had been a lot worse than I thought.

A/N:

There you go. Bella's story. More in a day or so. Thanks for reading!


	19. Chapter 20

LL Chapter 20

Choking on My Chicken

"I think that you have to be the strongest woman that I have ever met."

"I don't feel like I am. Especially when things like what happened earlier tonight with the strawberries happens."

"Jesus, Bella. Just because something triggers a bad memory for you, it doesn't make you weak. I mean, you may not have been able to fight them off but you never gave up fighting. You kept fighting by making sure that they ended up in jail where they belong." I reached over tentatively and took her hand in mine, "and Tanya, very few women would have kept a baby conceived through a rape. You are an amazing mother to her too."

"The fighting back had a lot to do with Leah. When she came to see me in the hospital she told me that just because I was victimized didn't mean that I had to be a victim. That became my mantra through the whole recovery process and trial. So even when the papers and magazines were calling me a lying whore, I kept my head held high. Dad and Sue kept saying that they may have won the first battle but I should not let them get away with winning the war. Dad, Sue, Leah, and even Seth were absolutely amazing through the whole thing."

"Sounds like it. And from talking to your dad and Leah they still are, but don't you ever just get angry with it all?"

"Oh, hell yes! Just ask my therapists and doctors. They've really gotten the brunt of my rages. There are so many days that I want to scream 'why me' and I want to throw things. Then I have times like earlier when I just want to hide under the bed, but I can't because if I do then they win the war."

"You know I rarely say this to anyone, but you're pretty damn smart there, Bella Swan."

"Wow. I am totally honored by that compliment." She giggled and picked up the remote with the hand that I was not holding and started flipping through channels. She finally landed on a movie channel that was playing one of those old silent movies. As we settled in to watch it, I let go of her hand and pulled a blanket down off the back of the couch. It wasn't long before I heard Bella breathing even out and looked up to find her asleep. I must have fallen asleep shortly after five, which was the last time I looked at the clock. "Edward," I heard my father's voice as he tapped on my shoulder, "how did you two end up down here?"

"I had a bad dream and came down for a drink. She was already here and we got to talking and I guess we just fell asleep and why can't I move my legs?"

"Because Bella's using them as a pillow," he said with a small laugh. Sure enough, when I managed to look down, I realized that not only did we both end up scooting down to a lying position but also she was wrapped around my calves and her head rested on my feet. "What time did you two fall asleep?"

"It was sometime after five."

"Then I want the two of you to stay home from school. Get some sleep and rest."

"Okay," I mumbled and fell back to sleep.

When I woke a few hours later, I sat up, groaning and rubbing my face until I heard a giggle coming from somewhere close by. I peeked out with one eye, looking through my fingers to see Bella sitting on the floor playing with Tanya, "Good Morning, Sunshine!"

"How can you be so chipper right now? It's fucking annoying."

"Oh! Uncle Edward is a mister crabby pants when he doesn't get enough sleep, isn't he, baby?" She went back to tickling Tanya getting more giggles out of the baby.

"Let me get some damn coffee in me and I'll be in a better mood. Wait a fucking minute…Uncle Edward?"

"EDWARD ANTHONY CULLEN!" Mom came charging in the room, "Don't you ever let me hear you swearing in front of a lady or a baby again or I will put Tabasco in your mouth! You hear me?"

"Yes, mom."

"Good, now apologize to Bella for being so crude in front of her."

"I'm sorry," I said to Bella as Mom left the room and Bella started snickering at me. I stuck my tongue out at her and she started full out laughing at me, "oh shut up."

"Don't make me tell your mommy on you!"

"Brat!" I quipped at her with a laugh and made my way to the kitchen in search of caffeine and food.

An hour later, after eating and deciding that a shower was definitely necessary, I came out of my room to find Bella coming out of the guest room carrying a couple of bags. Oh right, I thought, she was going home today. I went over and started helping her take all of her stuff out to her car.

Before she left mom insisted that that Bella stay to eat lunch with us. When Bella was finally able to convince Mom that she really needed to go because she was running low on diapers and needed to stop at the store on the way home, I helped Bella by carrying Tanya's carrier out to the car and buckling her in.

"Bella, I know that you have a house full of live-in sitters, but if you ever need a sitter call me, ok?" I told her as I handed her my cell number.

"Ok, and thanks for…you know…being a friend and being there for me to talk to last night."

"Any time you need someone to talk to or vent to, call my cell. I don't care what time it is, day or night." She nodded and turned to get into her car but spun back around and gave me what amounted to being the quickest hug in history before jumping into her car and taking off.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in my room listening to music and thinking about everything that Bella had told me in the early hours of this morning. I am not a violent person but I wanted to kill those bastards for what they did to her.

I looked over at the calendar on my wall and realized that it was already the first of October. The fundraiser for Dad's hospital was coming up soon; it was a ball, complete with evening gowns and tuxes. I sighed realizing that Alice was going to be getting on my case about not having a date for it, Mom just gave me these looks that plainly said that she was concerned about my lack of social life.

At seven, I went down to the dining room and sat down to a supper of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and salad. My gaze kept alternating between the empty chair next to my sister and the salad in the bowl directly in front of me. It seemed exponentially wrong that Bella wasn't here to eat supper with us.

It hit me out of the blue what it really was that was bothering me about Bella not being here, and it absolutely shocked me to the point that I started chocking on my food as the realization took form in my head. I was a complete asshole for it, but I was falling for Bella Swan. How could I even consider wanting to go out with her when she was still dealing with all the shit that had happened to her.

But didn't she say that she didn't want that to hold her back from living her life? I was so immersed in my inner musings of my conflict; I wanted to go on a date with Bella but was it too soon for her? There was also the fact that it made me a complete hypocrite to want to date a teen mom. Yeah, my friends were going to let me have it for that.

There were two questions that I needed answers to first was willing to go out on a date at all and second, would she want to go out on a date with me? I knew only two people that knew Bella well enough to be able to help me. Angela was one of them, but I did not dare go to her. I may be an ass to most people most of the time, but I was not mean enough to go to a girl that had a crush on me for advice on how to ask out her friend. So, I had no choice but to go to her other friend for help, I would have to call Rose.

A/N:

I want to clarify that Edwards concern about dating Bella is not the fact that she was raped but is concerned she is not ready to date yet and doesn't want to push her or hurt her. This might be it for the weekend as I have a busy one this weekend. School starts on Monday, how is it possible that my baby is in 8th grade?

This story is now only being posted on ffn and a blog; you can find the link on my profile. Thank you to everyone that reviews, you totally rock and make my day so much brighter!


	20. Chapter 21

LL Chapter 21

One Step Forward

I had been looking forward to seeing Bella ever since my alarm woke me this morning. I had to keep biting tongue to keep from yelling at my sister to hurry up getting ready because I was so eager to get to school.

By the time I was finally able to get Alice out of the house we were running late and we made it to school with just enough time to get to our first classes. I saw Bella's car in the lot as I was running into the building and it made me feel better knowing that I would see her again soon.

Little did I know that my first opportunity to see her this morning was not going to be a happy occasion. I was walking to my second period French Class with Alice when I heard the horrible screeching voice that could only be Lauren calling someone a whore. We hurried around the corner in time to see Jessica shove Bella hard and telling her that everyone would be happier if her and her little bastard went back to where she came from and that no one wanted her here. We ran for them but we could not make it to them before Bella fell to the ground. She had put out her arms to break her fall and was now cradling her wrist and I was livid. How dare they put their filthy hands on her.

As Alice started helping Bella up off the floor, I stepped in front of the both of them to protect them from the bitches that were hell bent on hurting Bella. I was going to make sure that Lauren and Jessica knew never to mess with Bella again, "Don't you ever, and I mean _EVER_, put your hands on her again you will regret it, because you will have to deal with me!"

"And me." I looked to my right and found an enraged Rose with Emmett standing behind her. Looking behind me, to check on Bella and Alice and saw that Jasper had joined them and was examining Bella wrist.

"No, they mean that you will have to deal with all of us," I heard Angela say from my left.

"And we want Bella here a hell of a lot more than we want your skanky asses here." Alice spoke up from behind me.

"Hey Jasper!" Jessica spoke up try to be coy, having noticed that Jasper was standing with Alice, "When are you going to drop miss good two shoes over there and let us show you what you've been missing out on?"

I rolled my and looked behind me again to see Jasper pulling Alice to his side and kissing her on the temple before turning back to Jessica, "I know exactly what I missing out on. An STD, a round of penicillin, and a criminal record for minor in possession. How many times has Chief Swan arrested you two for public indecency now?"

Everyone in the hall started laughing at Jasper comment which just made Jessica angrier, but before she could respond we were all interrupted, "What is going on here?" I looked up to find Dr. Banner standing in front of us.

"Jessica and Lauren attacked Bella, verbally and physically, I think they hurt her wrist," I told him.

"Did you see this happen?" he asked me.

"Yes he did and so did I", Alice spoke up, "She needs to see a doctor. Her wrist is starting to swell."

Dr. Banner walked up to Bella and reached out for her wrist, "May I?" He continued when she nodded. "I don't think it is broken but it might be sprained. I agree. You need to see a doctor."

"I'll take her to my dad's office. Her step mom works for him."

"No, Edward. You have to make up the quiz you missed yesterday. Someone else can take Ms. Swan to the doctor."

"I'll do it." Alice volunteered, "Just give me your keys, Edward."

"Thank you, Miss Cullen. I will tell the office that you two are gone seeing as I need to take these two to see the principal."

I handed over my car keys to Alice and she ushered a now crying Bella out of the school.

I attempted to continue with my morning but I could not concentrate on anything that my teachers were talking about. By lunch time I was obsessively checking my phone for any message from my sister. I was just sitting down to lunch when Alice rushed in and flopped down in her chair, in true Alice dramatic fashion.

"What happen?"

"It's just a sprain. I stayed with her through all of the x-rays and then drove her home."

"At least it is not broken."

"Yeah, well, she is still not going to be able to drive for away. I'll call her afterschool and offer to drive her to and from school," Angela volunteered.

"Oh, don't worry. I kind of already volunteered Edward and myself to do it."

"Oh, that's ok, I'm sure that Edward isn't going to want to cart her around. I'll call and tell her that there was a change in plans."

"That's ok, Angela. I don't mind doing it."

"Oh, that's fine, I guess," and that was the last thing that Angela said through lunch.

By the time that school was out I was bouncing in my seat again. I had arranged to meet Rose at her house after school since we each drove our own cars and Alice was going out with Jasper. I sat in my car waiting for Rose to show and stewing over how I was going to even start this conversation with her.

No one else was at her house as both of her parents worked as lawyers. Rose detoured to the kitchen and grabbed us a couple of sodas, and a sandwich, a bag of chips, a bag of cookies for herself.

"You know," she started when she finally sat down with her 'snack', "when you called me last and asked if we could meet to talk this afternoon, I foolishly thought that you were thinking about planning your best friend's birthday. But after today, I think that I am wrong."

"Shit! I forgot that Emmett's birthday is coming up soon."

"Obviously. So tell me, Edward, why _did_ you need to talk to me?"

"Ok. I like Bella. I mean I want to go on a date with her, but with her history I don't think that I could just ask her and I need help with getting to the point that she would considering not only dating but dating me. And since you know what she went through you are my best option." And then she started laughing at me.

"OH MYGOD! You realize the irony in you falling for a teen mom don't you?"

"Yes."

"And you know that the kid is part of the package deal."

"Her name is Tanya, not 'the kid' and yes I do."

"Ok. Next question, has she told you everything that happened in Phoenix?"

"I think so. I mean she told me a lot the other night in regards to what happened that night, who they were, and what happened afterwards with her so called friends during the trial and her mom, she told me about her Mom."

"Way to answer that while not giving away any details! But seriously, I didn't know that you were so close."

"We've talked a lot. I mean she was staying at my house over the weekend. Will you help me?"

"Yes I will. Because deep down I know that you are a good guy that can make her happy and she deserves to be happy after what happened it Phoenix."

"Thank you Rose." 

"Yeah, well, I didn't say that it was going to be easy. First, I'd say take your time in getting her more comfortable spending time with you. And do nice things for her. Here," she reached into her bag, "I grabbed her homework before I left school, and you should take it to her. And maybe offer to help her with it?"

"She's too smart. That might offend her. We do still have our project, we could set a time for that and then suggest that she bring her other homework and we could help each other with it."

"You do know her well don't you? Well, the best thing that I can tell you is to go slow. Stay with being her friend but show her that you want to spend time with her and getting to know her. But don't push too fast, she may not act like it most of the time, but she is still traumatized by what happened, you accidentally cause her to have a flashback."

"Yeah, no more flashbacks, I really hated seeing that."

"She had a flashback recently?" I told her about the strawberry debacle and she was a little upset that my mom didn't think that through.

"Hey Edward, I have one question for you, do you have any idea where you would take her if she said yes to a date?"

"Yes, I found out that the hospital fundraiser got pushed back due to a conference. It's a month from now. I want to ask her to be my date. She told me that she had never been on a date before and it's a kind of romantic, all dressed up in evening gowns and tuxes and dancing the night away plus it has the added perk that-"

"—again, it will be a group setting and with so many people will be attending she'll feel more comfortable than being alone with you all night. It sounds perfect. But, now that we have a plan for you to start with, we should decide what we are going to do about Emmett's birthday."

"Ok. I think that we can safely say that last year's disaster should be avoided this year at all costs."

"I would say so, Mom is still angry about her garden getting destroyed. Man, I had no idea rose bushes were that expensive. I can guarantee that Mom and Dad are not going to allow a party here again." We had thrown a surprise party for him at the Hales and somehow Mrs. Hale's garden was set on fire and the fire department had to be called. We still think that it was Lauren that did it; we just don't have the proof.

"Yeah, my parents either. How about we do a quiet group dinner, just the six of us, in Port Angeles, and maybe a movie?"

"Bowling would be better. Emmett likes slasher films and I don't see that going over well with your future girlfriend."

"Dinner and bowling as a group. She'd be comfortable with that, I think. I better go get this to her. Thanks Rose."

A/N:

A little longer than normal and we have a group confrontation with the tramp twins and a heart to heart with Rose. Next chapter will be a face to face with an angry Leah!


	21. Chapter 22

LL Chapter 22

Friends, Family, and Fathers

I was just reaching up to knock on the door when it flew open and I was nearly tackled by Leah and she stormed out of the house followed by an aggravated Bella, "Leah, just let it go!"

"NO! They are going to get what they deserve for messing with my sister. And that's final."

"UGH! Go see Sam and let him calm you down." Then she turned to me, "Sorry you had to see that Edward, she's a little bit upset about Jessica and Lauren."

"If that is a little bit upset, I would hate to see her a lot upset. She just cares about you, Bella. Are you ok? I mean besides the sprained wrist."

"It's going to be a little hard to pick up Tanya with only one hand but I'll manage."

"What I meant is that, you know what they said was utter bullshit right?"

"I didn't until you all stood in front of me, you all stood up for me and protected me and Edward, I told you that everyone turned on me in Phoenix. I just don't think you'll ever be able to comprehend what that meant to me. And there's Leah who's ready to beat down on them for me. I feel so alone for so long. Dad, Sue, Leah, and Seth had work and school so they had to be here. So it was just Mom and I and she wasn't really there for me, then I was all alone and…now I have-"

"-You have a lot of people here who care a lot about you."

"Thank you, Edward. You are so sweet. Can I get you anything to drink or eat?"

"Nah, I just came from Rose's house. I managed to snag a few cookies from her without losing my fingers."

"Yeah, that girl can eat. I can see why she and Emmett are together. So why were you hanging out with her? I didn't think that you two were that close. I'm sorry; it's really none of my business. I shouldn't pry."

"We were actually planning for Emmett's birthday. It's a week from Saturday," I replied grateful that it was the truth; it just wasn't the only thing that we were planning.

"Oh yeah, what are you guys doing to celebrate?"

"_We_, Bella, _We_ are going to dinner and bowling."

"We?"

"Yes, _we_ and you can bring Tanya with you. At least you can bring her to dinner; I am not sure about the bowling. I'll ask dad."

"Edward, wait you guys don't have to—"

"—do not finish that sentence. You are officially part of the group now and you are coming to dinner with us."

"Are you sure he wouldn't rather have a big party since he is turning eighteen?"

"OH yes. I am sure. None of us want a repeat of last year. It was expensive to repair all of the damage and I think your father finally forgot all about the whole thing."

"No. I just have my intuitive theories about who actually turned Mrs. Hale's garden into a bonfire and I have been watching her," we both looked up to see Chief Swan standing in the doorway.

"Hi, dad. Where's my baby?"

"Don't worry. I didn't forget to pick her up. She's sleeping in the carrier in the living room. So, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit, Edward?"

"Oh right. I almost forgot. I brought your homework, Bella."

"Oh, thank you! I was getting worried about falling behind."

"So how did you two get onto the subject of Emmett McCarty's infamous birthday party last year?"

"His birthday is coming up and I was inviting Bella to join us."

"Oh God! You kids aren't planning a repeat of last year are you?" 

"No, no, no! We are keeping it simple, Chief Swan. Dinner and bowling in Port Angeles. Bella can bring Tanya along with her if she wants."

"At least any destruction will be outside my jurisdiction this time. When is his birthday?"

"It's a week from Saturday, Dad. And I am not sure if I am even going to go yet."

"Yes, you are. You need to go out with your friends and have a good time. There's a tribal meeting that Sue, Leah, and Seth have to attend, so Tanya can stay home and keep her grandpa company. And that's final. You still need to be a teenager too. And every parent deserves a night out Bella."

"Fine! I'll go."

"I know you will," Chief Swan replied to her.

"I had better get home for dinner. I'll be here at seven to pick you up Bella?"

"Yes, that's good. I'll be ready."

"Oh and we need to find time to work on that biology project. Perhaps I could stay tomorrow when I drop you off and we can work on it and I can help you with Tanya since you can't use your wrist."

"That sounds good. Thanks again, Edward."

"I'll walk you out, Edward. I forgot the diaper bag in the cruiser." We were quiet as we walked out of the house but as soon as we reached the cruiser, Chief Swan put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me, "Edward, thank you for defending her today. She told me earlier what happened at school. I ran over to the hospital to pick her up and bring her home and she was smiling. I was about to go back in to ask your father what kind of pain killers he gave her because, I swear, I haven't seen that girl smile like that since before all this shit happened. But she told me how you, your sister and friends stood up to her, protected her, and put those girls in their place. Trust me, Lauren and Jessica are going to be dealt with and I know they won't be back in school this week either."

"That's good. It's not like they actually contribute anything positive by being there. Leah seems to be out for blood though."

"Leah always wanted a sister, but she got Seth. She's excited to have Bella and Tanya around and is very protective of them. She's actually very protective of everyone in her life. Well, I should let you get home to your supper."

"See you later, Chief Swan."

I was about half way to my car before Bella's dad called out to me, "Edward!"

"Yes Chief?"

"Call me Charlie."

A/N:

Some Big Sister Bear Leah and Papa Bear Charlie. And thanks to everyone that reviews! You guys make me smile!


	22. Chapter 23

LL Chapter 23

Slow go

We rode to school in a comfortable silence. It didn't hurt that Bella only lived about two minutes from the school. I didn't want to let on to Alice that I was interested in Bella just yet. This was one of the rare things that I did not want to share with her, when we would normally tell each other everything that happened in our lives. When I pulled into the parking lot we found Rose, Jasper, and Emmett lounging on some picnic tables.

Alice and I started off towards them and Bella started off towards the school but I grabbed her hand dragged her along with us. "Hey, Emmett," Rose started as we approached them; "Edward and I got together and made some plans for your birthday."

"No party, please tell me there's no party," Emmett was muttering under his breath.

"How bad was this party last year?" Bella asked.

"BAD!" we all answered her. We had told her about the garden bonfire, but not about all the broken windows or the new artwork that appeared on the side of Mr. Hale's garage. It took us three weekends of painting to finally get it all covered up. All of which we became financially responsible for.

"Edward and I decided it would be best to keep it simple; just dinner and bowling."

"Thank God! That sounds great. You're coming too, aren't you Bells?"

"Uh, yeah I am."

"And the munchkin too, right?"

"No. Dad's babysitting."

"Too bad. She's an angel."

"Yeah, you've never had to change one of her stink bombs," I blurted out.

"HEY!," Bella smacked my chest

"I'm just being honest."

"I know. I've changed plenty of those stink bombs myself. But still, that's my daughter you're talking about."

"I didn't mean to upset you," I apologized.

"It's f—"

"Hey guys, what's up?" I almost groaned aloud when Angela approached us.

"We're just talking about poopy diapers," Emmett told her.

"What?"

"Never mind him. He's an idiot. We're planning for Emmett's birthday. You want to go to dinner with us?" I was going to kill Alice for that one. I politely excused myself citing the need to use the bathroom before class before I ended up strangling my sister. It unfortunately made me the first person to make it to class. Alice and Angela were going to screw this up for me if I didn't do something about Angela's crush because she was bordering on stalking me now.

"I don't think that girl can take a hint. Why can't I just tell her to back the fuck off?" Rose chuckled at me as she sat down and took out her copy of "The Picture of Dorian Gray", that we were reading for English Class.

"Because that will hurt her and make her cry and make _YOU_ look bad to the girl you _do_ want. Anyway, I'm inviting Ben Cheney to the dinner. He likes Angela and maybe that will get her off your back."

"I hope so, because I can't take much more of her, she's going to screw this up for me."

"Don't worry. If it comes down to it, I'll talk to her for you. That way, I'll be the bad guy."

"You're the best Rose."

"I know I am."

When the last bell rang, to end the day, I rushed off to meet Bella at her locker. My sister was going over to the Hale's to study with Jasper so I had Bella all to myself for the ride back to her house, and I loved it. When we got there we found the house empty. According to her note, Sue had to run to the store but would be back soon. We set ourselves up at the table in the kitchen and got to work on the project.

I could not help but laugh at Bella when she shot out of her chair and ran for the door the second that we heard Sue's car pull into the driveway. "Shut up!" she admonished my laughter when she returned carrying a smiling Tanya in her good arm and returned to her seat in the chair across the table from me, "It's hard to be away from her for so long. I can't believe how much she's grown since she was born."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she was so teeny tiny that I could practically hold her in one hand, now look at her. The doctors say that she's only about a month behind in physical development but mentally she's right on par. She laughed for the first time the other day. Right on the day that she turned three months old. I'm sorry, you probably don't want to hear me go on and on about her."

"On the contrary, I love hearing you talk about her. She's your life, and you light up and smile when you talk about her."

"I do?"

"You really do." At that moment, I heard Seth and Leah come home and realized that it was getting close to dinner time, "I have to get home, but I think if we get together on Saturday we should have it done."

"I'm free all day. In fact, everyone else is going to be gone all day and Tanya and I are going to have the whole house to ourselves."

"The hospital called me; there are two new babies in the NICU, so I am back on duty for a couple hours Saturday. Hey, I have an idea, why don't I pick up you and Tanya and take you to my house to work and Mom can help us watch Tanya while we're working?"

"Are you sure that your mom won't mind? You didn't even ask her if she would."

"Bella, how hard is it for you to get Mom to hand your daughter over to you when she babysit? How many times have you had to practically wrestle your daughter out of her arms to get her back?"

"Point taken. Ok. Call me when you leave Port Angeles and we will be ready to go when you get here." 

"Great, I'll pick you up for school at the same time tomorrow," I yelled as I ran out the door.

Thank God Friday flew by and the weekend was here. It had been a long week and I needed the down time. Plus Bella was coming over this afternoon and I was going to get to spend the afternoon with the two people that were quickly becoming my two favorite girls.

The baby that I held this after noon was a girl named Antonia. She and her twin, Antonio, brother were both born prematurely due to a car accident. Unfortunately, the parents did not survive the accident. Their aunt and uncle were coming in from Italy on Monday to care for them and would take custody of them.

Bella did not have much to bring over with her as Mom had taken to stocking up on diapers, formula, baby cereal; she even had new baby furniture. I think she might be trying to talk Dad into letting her turn the guest room into a nursery. She loved babies and I never understood why they never had anymore after Alice and me. As soon as Bella let me into the house, I presented her with something that I found in the hospital gift shop when I ducked in for a soda and candy bar on my way out and I just could not pass up buying. It was a little pink puppy that was wearing a T-shirt that said, "I love my mama". I not only got a brilliant smile out of Bella, I even got a laugh out of Tanya when I put it in her carrier with her.

A/N: Ok. I wrote this chapter more times than I want to remember. It just wouldn't come out right. Leah's revenge is coming, she just needs to wait for the right time plus she is not working alone on this, ducks need to be in a row before they strike. I don't know if I'll get another chapter out by the weekend but I'll try. As always, thanks to all my reviewers, you make my day!


	23. Chapter 24

LL Chapter 24

Saturday Night Fever

I could tell that Bella was utterly exhausted about a half hour into our work. It did not take us long to finalize everything and ensure that we had all of our materials organized to present and turn in this week. Our presentation was not due until Thursday but Bella was an overachiever like I was, so both of us reveled in having it done early.

As we worked, I worked on convincing Bella to stay for dinner so no one was going to be home at her house. It wasn't until I enlisted the help of my mom that she finally agreed to stay. Dad went out to fire up the grill to BBQ some steaks while the rest of us made some side dishes. Let me rephrase that, while the rest of us made _healthy_ side dishes.

After a dinner filled with laughter and joking we settled into the living room to watch a movie. Since Rose and Jasper were attending a dinner with their parents, Alice was spending a rare Saturday night at home with us. She and Mom were sitting on the floor playing with Tanya; Dad took the easy chair; while Bella and I each took separate ends of the couch. It was not long into the movie before we all heard the soft snoring coming from Bella's end of the couch.

"The poor dear is so exhausted," Mom commented as she covered Bella with the blanket from the back of the couch.

"Let's let her sleep in peace," Dad spoke up as he turned off the TV as I grabbed Tanya off the floor and quietly asked Alice to help me get her stuff upstairs to my room.

Once upstairs in my room I turned on some classical music and Alice flopped down on my bed to continue her game of peek-a-boo with Tanya. I sat down next to them and played with them and watching Tanya smile, laugh, and flail her little arms and legs in delight.

An hour and a half later Bella's phone went off with a ringtone that I recognized as being Jasper. She left the room to talk to him in private and that was fine with me. It just meant that I got some one on one time with Tanya.

I was standing there a few minutes later playing with Tanya and the stuffed dog that I had bought her and getting her to laugh for me some more. I sat there watching her smile and laugh, "You know you are just as beautiful as your mama when you smile. You are both so beautiful. I know you are going to be just as smart as your mama too."

Bella walked in a minute later with a bottle for Tanya and knelt down by the bed near us.

"Did you enjoy your nap?"

"Yes, I did, thank you Edward. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"Mom would say that your body must have needed the rest. It was fine. Tanya and I were having a nice chat."

"Thanks again," she said and then reached down to pick up Tanya and feed her the bottle.

" It's after ten, I guess I'm going to have to take you home soon?"

"Umm, no. My Leah called me. That's what woke me. Anyway, she's coming to get me."

"She doesn't have to. I can drive you home."

"She said he wanted to tell me something that you and Alice would be interested in hearing too."

Twenty minutes later, we were all sitting in the living room only with Leah with us.

"Well, you know how I said that there was no way that I was going to let this shit with Lauren and Jessica drop?"

"What did you do?"

"Relax Bella," Leah smirked, "the only thing I did was give an official tip to the police."

"What kind of tip? Everyone knows those two are addicts," I spoke up.

"Yes, that is common knowledge. But what isn't so widely known is what's going on between Lauren and David Stanley and how she's been "earning" her drug money from him every Saturday night."

"What?" we all exclaimed stunned.

"Oh yes. Every Saturday night she meets him behind Newton's store and after a couple of "work" in his backseat and she get paid.

"Oh my God!" I could not believe that that little fact wasn't more widely known.

"So, what did Dad do?"

"Both Mr. David Stanley and Lauren are in the city jail under arrest for solicitation."

"How did you know about it?"

"Apparently she had propositioned a couple of the guys down on the reservation, including Sam, but she let it be known that she had a standing client appointment every Saturday night. And she may have let it slip to one of the boys where she can be found if they wanted a go a round or two after she was done with the other client."

"Ew, gross," Bella shuddered. I had to agree that was just nasty.

"Oh and Charlie may have "accidently" dropped copies of their mug shots in my purse earlier. And the guys from the reservation may be, at this minute "accidentally" posting them on every light pole in Forks, the rez, and every other town around here."

"Damn girl," Alice laughed, "Remind me never to piss off you or Chief Swan. That's so vicious!" Leah was an absolute genius. What a brilliant way of getting revenge without laying a finger on Jessica or Lauren. And both of them were going to be suffering repercussions from the public humiliation.

Then the girls had to go home, but not before Bella asked me if I would mind driving her to Port Angeles for her doctor's appointment after school on Monday. Was she kidding me? There was no way that I was going to say no to getting to spend two hours alone in the car with car. Now, I really could not wait for Monday to come. After they left, I went back to my room and sank into the best sleep that I had had in a week filled with dreams of Bella.

A/N:

Happy Saturday! Leah and Charlie got their revenge for they attack on Bella, and they stayed within the law! Have a great night! I am off to take my son to a professional minor league baseball game! As always, enjoy! And oh! I am absolutely still doing a happy dance that I got 14 reviews last chapter. It was a new record for me and I am extremely thrilled, so thanks everyone. Next update Monday.


	24. Chapter 25

LL Chapter 25

On the Road Again.

Monday morning the whole town was still talking about Lauren and Mr. Stanley. As Lauren was found with cocaine not only in her purse but in her system she was up on drug charges as well as solicitation. Chief Swan had told Bella that her family was working on a deal for her to go to a rehab facility in Seattle instead of jail, where she was still sitting as her family refused to pay her bail. Mr. Stanley was released Sunday night but was currently staying in a hotel in Port Angeles as both his wife and Jessica had come down to the jail and yelled at him. They had brought him a bag of clothes and told him not to come home. Mrs. Stanley had decided to file for a divorce. Jessica was not in school today either.

That afternoon Bella and I were traveling up to Port Angeles together to go to her therapy appointment. I was not about to waste this rare chance to spend time with her alone and have her undivided attention. I used my time wisely to get to know who she is beyond being an overachieving student like me and an amazing mom to Tanya.

"How is it that I have lived in this town all my life and never met you? You had to come visit your dad right?"

"I only saw him two weeks in the summer and alternated Thanksgiving and Christmas with him. The two weeks in the summer we traveled and neither holiday was warm enough for me to want to venture out of the house."

"Not a fan of cold weather?"

"Not one bit, but I will get used to it, I guess. It's not like I have much choice in the matter." 

"I didn't know that the Chief was such an extensive traveler. So where did the two of you go? I know he's an avid fisherman but I really don't see and the fishing and camping type."

"That's one of the great things about my dad. I know that he doesn't make much money but he would save every penny that he could so that he could make the two weeks that he got to see me as memorable as possible. I've known that I wanted to be an architect ever since was eight. That was the first time that he was able to take me to Europe. He's taken me to Europe every year since. Well, except for the summer when I was fifteen."

"Where did he take you that year?"

"He had just married Sue and since he only gets two weeks of vacation time a year he made it a joint honeymoon with Sue and a family vacation for all us of to Jamaica."

"Charlie seems like an amazing father."

"Oh he is. He's the best."

We talked a little more about our childhoods, but the closer we got to Port Angeles the quieter Bella got, so I stopped asking questions as she seemed to be getting lost in her own head. When I pulled into the parking lot I asked her if she wanted me to come in and wait for her in the waiting room. She told me that she was fine to go in by herself, so I told her that I would be waiting at the diner across the street. She took a deep breath, like she was attempting to calm herself, got out of the car and disappeared into the building.

An hour later she sent me a text saying that she was done. The drive home was a lot different than the ride up had been. She seemed incredibly agitated and annoyed now, "I know you just spent an hour talking to a therapist, but if you do want to talk about it, I'll listen. I mean you just seem really upset about something."

"I'm aggravated, but I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I'm always here to listen if you ever need to talk, you know that right?"

"It just completely stupid for me to be frustrated about it, because I really don't want to remember what happened."

"Oh, you mean when they…uh…"

"You can say it, Edward, when they raped me. When they decided they had the right to destroy my whole life," she snapped at me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

She buried her face in her hands and I could her crying and mumbling, "It's not fair, it's just not fair," so I pulled the car over to the side of the road. I tentatively reached out and touched her head and started stroking her hair in a blind attempt at calming her. I had no experience with this and I had no idea if I was doing the right thing or possibly making things a lot worse.

It must have been the right thing, because after a few minutes of crying she finally started calming down. She reached into her purse and grabbed out some Kleenex and then she totally surprised me by leaning over and lying her head on my shoulder, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to snap at you or lose it like this, you don't deserve to have to put up me."

"It's fine Bella. I really want to be here for you if you need me, anytime that you need me."

She sat up and I reluctantly let her scoot back to her seat, "I don't get it, Edward. You were a complete asshole when we first met, I don't understand what brought on this big change in you."

"I'm an asshole to most people, Bella. I don't let too many people get close to me because I don't want anything tying me to this town. But I wasn't expecting to meet you. You are so damn strong and smart and amazing and you made me completely reevaluate everything in my life in such a short time."

She sighed and looked down at her lap, "Part of me hates that I don't remember the things that were done to me and part of me is so damn happy that I can't remember and will never be able to remember. Everyone says that I am lucky to not remember and I do agree with them. I mean, there are so many rape victims that I have met in group in Phoenix that couldn't even shake anyone's hand. I don't have that problem. People can touch me and I don't freak out and I am so grateful for that. I have no business being frustrated about not remember but I just can't help it. I know I sound psychotic."

"I don't think that you sound psychotic. I think that I can understand to an extent and you are entitled to be just as angry and frustrated as you want."

"My therapist said the exact same thing to me. She suggested I find a way to work out my frustrations physically."

"Like hitting someone? I think you great and all and I want to be there for you, but, honey, I been on the receiving end of your fist and it's not something I wish to experience ever again. I will volunteer Emmett though; the boy needs some sense knocked into him most of the time," which got her to start laughing.

"That's one of the reasons I like hanging out with you. You make me laugh and not many people can do that these days. But, what she was suggesting was that I try to get into an exercise class like martial arts or boxing. Your dad told me to start considering joining a gym on my last appointment. It would be good for my heart."

"You know Alice has always wanted to take up Judo but had no one who would go with her; I bet she'd go with you if you asked."

With the plan in motion that she would ask Alice in the morning about starting Judo together, I pulled back onto the road and we continued on our back home. It was pouring hard when we reached Forks and Bella was rummaging through her bag and swearing because she forgot to pack her umbrella.

"I have one in the back seat."

"If I take your umbrella then you won't have one to use. I'll be fine"

"Well, then, I guess I'll just have to walk you to the door because we can't have you catching the flu," I replied with a smirk.

I grabbed the umbrella off the back seat and braved the monsoon as I ran around the car to the passenger side door. Chief Swan opened the front door of the house just as we made it to the porch, "Hey Dad, you're home early tonight."

"Actually you two are a little late. We were getting worried that you two were in a wreck given this weather."

"Sorry Dad, I got a little emotional after my appointment and Edward pulled over until I was able to calm down."

"Everything ok now?" he asked looking between us.

"I'll explain later, Dad," and then she turned back to me, "Thanks for the ride, Edward. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night Bella. Good night Charlie."

A/N:

The general consensus is that the Charlie and Leah's revenge rocked plus it was another record in reviews that made me all shades of giddy this weekend. I've had that planned for a while and I had to keep restraining myself from giving it away in the chapters and review replies. I hope that I conveyed Bella's frustration clearly in this chapter, it not that she wants to know but that she will never know exactly what was done to her. And you get more amazing daddy Charlie in this chapter!


	25. Chapter 26

LL Chapter 26

Dinner and Bowling and Stalkers…oh my!

The next morning Bella was surprised that Alice was not in the car with me when I arrived to pick her up for school. I told her that Alice usually drives herself to school on the days that she has to work. That is unless she has plans with Jasper afterwards. My sister being my sister we still beat her to school. We were all sitting on the picnic table again, waiting for the bell to ring when she finally arrived.

Bella asked Alice immediately about joining a Judo class together and Alice damn near busted all of our eardrums with her squealing. She was talking a mile a minute about where to take the class what nights worked best for her, stopping for dinner after classes, etc. Bella took a step back in her surprise at Alice's overzealousness and bumped into Jasper who was walking up behind her, "Ok, who set her off?" he asked.

We all pointed at Bella who started stammering, "I didn't know…I just asked…it was his idea…" she ratted me out. I explained about the Judo class and Jasper just laughed and then grabbed Alice's hand and started leading her away amid complaints from here that she and Bella still needed to discuss specifics. He knew that there was only way to really shut her up and he also knew that I did not want to have to watch the two of them kissing.

At lunch, I reminded Bella that while I would still be picking her up for school in the morning, I would not be able to drive her home as I was scheduled to work at the NICU. Alice volunteered to take her home but Bella asked that she drop her off at our dad's office. He wanted to check her wrist again and see if she was able to resume driving again. The idea that Bella would not need me to pick her up anymore was depressing to me.

Rose must have noticed the change in my attitude because she changed the subject to something that I had texted her about this morning, "Ok, we need to talk about Saturday and the driving arrangements." I had thought about offering to pick up Bella for the dinner but then I thought that that could make it seem date-ish and could end up scaring Bella.

"I have to be at the hospital on Saturday afternoon til three so I thought that I would just bum around PA until it was time to meet for dinner."

"Alright girls, I was thinking that we could make an afternoon of it and go for mani's and pedi's before dinner. How does that sound?"

The first person that spoke up surprised us all, "I'm so in. I haven't done that in so long. It will be nice to do something girly again," Bella sighed.

"Are you kidding me?" Rose laughed, "You are the one that I thought that we were going to have to drag out of the house kicking and screaming!"

"Oh no," Bella replied, "My friends and I were always getting our nails done in Phoenix. I like to do girly shit; it is just harder to get time to do it these days with a newborn. But I know Dad will be absolutely thrilled about it he has this thing about me still being young and having fun."

After Angela and Alice agreed to the pre-dinner excursion, it was agreed that Rose would be driving the girls and Emmett would be picking Jasper. Ben who had to work Saturday too, was going to drive himself as well.

Saturday afternoon I arrived at the NICU dressed a little better than I normally would and the two nurses on duty that afternoon were enjoying teasing me about the 'hot date' they were sure that I had planned. The irony was that I wished that it was a real date and not just a group dinner. The fundraiser dinner was now two weeks away and I did need to ask her soon if she was going to have time to find a dress and a babysitter for the night. I resolved in my mind that I was going to ask her tonight…well this weekend…definitely this weekend…maybe…

After my shift was over, I roamed aimlessly around Port Angeles until it was time to meet everyone at the restaurant. Emmett loves the Japanese restaurant in town so that is where we had reservations. When the showed me to the table I deliberately took the seat on the end. My goal was to get Bella to sit next to me and Angela hopefully would be at the other end.

The girls were the first to show up as they approached the table I saw Angela pick up speed as if she was going to beat everyone to the table and get the only seat next to me. Rose, bless her heart, stopped her and started fidgeting with Angela collar as if it needed fixing. Meanwhile Bella and Alice continued toward me. To my immense surprise, Bella automatically took the chair next to me. That had to be a positive sign that she liked me, right?

When the waiter came to take our order, I was surprised when Bella ordered a diet coke with grenadine and I raised my eyebrow at her, "While your father was checking over my wrist Wednesday, I got him to give me permission to have some treats tonight. I get one soda and fried rice!"

"So the blood pressure is doing better?"

"It's still a tiny bit high but it is a lot lower than what it was. It's considered borderline hypertension right now, but your dad said that since I am always so strict with my diet, I deserve to have a treat every now and then. So, what are you going to get?" she looked back at the menu, "I am totally going for the steak and shrimp combo."

"I guess great minds really do think alike because that is exactly what I was going to order."

Angela who, sullenly, ended up half way down the table was desperately attempting to get my attention throughout dinner. Rose had texted me when they sat down that Angela had asked how to get me to ask her out. Rose told her, again, that I wasn't interested and it wasn't going to happen. Angela just shrugged her off and muttered something about how she was just going to have find a way to be more obvious. As if she hadn't been completely obvious to this point. The only way she could be more obvious would be asking me out directly. What really concerned me was that Bella had lost all of her friends over what happened in Phoenix and I did not want her to have to deal with anyone else turning on her because of me. But damn it, we both had the right to be happy and whether or not Bella had ever come to Forks I was not going to ever consider going out with Angela.

Angela was getting more and more annoying throughout the meal trying to get my attention. Rose whispered something in Angela's ear, to which Angela rolled her eyes, and then she asked Bella if she wanted to switch seats with her and I couldn't help but laugh when Bella replied, "No thanks. I'm fine right here."

As the dinner progressed Rose pulled out a camera and started snapping pictures of everyone. At one point she had Emmett come to our end of the table and stand behind us so she could get one of the three of us.

After Rose and I settled the bill, Bella agreed to ride over to the bowling alley with me. I stood up taking Bella's hand and pulling her up with me and told everyone that we would meet them there and then we hightailed it out of the restaurant before Angela could invite herself along.

I had to stop at the gas station on our way to the bowling alley so while I pumped the gas she called her dad and checked up on Tanya. The other managed to beat us there and thankfully Ben was managed to distract Angela into a conversation with him. We grabbed two lanes and decided to pair up and play two couples per lane. We were going to switch up each game where winners play the winners and losers played the losers.

Of course I managed to claim Bella as my partner. Our first game was against Emmett and Rose. There was no way that we were going beat them, they were here so often they were on a first name basis with the shoe rental guy.

It became obvious that Bella had never been bowling in her life when on her first turn up she got really excited when she managed to knock down one pin. She threw, and I mean _threw_, her ball down the lane two times and only managed to get one pin and what ecstatic about that? One the second frame, she managed to throw the ball behind her hitting Emmett square in the gut so hard that he fell to the floor with the wind knocked out of him. She was so horrified that she was about to start crying until Rosalie fell to the floor laughing her ass off at the whole thing. Professional bowling was not in this girl's future that was for sure.

After that spectacular loss to Emmett and Rose we had a few minutes to wait for the others to finish their game so we wandered over to the snack shop. Bella and I both got unsalted soft pretzels and, well, Rose and Emmett each got what only could be considered another meal with burgers, fries, and candy. We took the food back to the where our lanes were and waited our chance to start another game.

Alice and Jasper ended up losing to Angela and Ben by two points. The girls decided that a small bathroom break was needed before we started the next game. When the girls returned Angela appeared upset about something but I didn't really care. What I did care about was that Bella looked a little agitated. When I asked her what was wrong she smiled and told me it that nothing and she seemed fine after that. But something must have happened or something was said in that bathroom.

Jasper and Alice managed to annihilate us quite well as well. Although in Bella's last frame up she shocked all of us, herself included, when she managed a strike. It was so cute how excited she got; she was jumping up and down screaming "I did it! I did it! Look what I did!" Then she ran at me, jumped in my arms, and gave me a big hug. Then she proceeded to hug everyone else in the group, including Ben, dashing my hopes that the hug was another sign that she liked me.

We decided to take another small break between games again. Bella, Rose, and I stayed at the lanes while everyone else ran to either the bathroom or the snack bar. When Bella could not stop yawning I asked her if she was tired and wanted to go home.

"I am tired, but Rose is my ride and I don't want everyone to have leave early because of me."

"I'm ready to call it a night myself so I could drive you home," I offered.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Let's at least say goodbye to everyone and wish Emmett a happy birthday again before we go."

"I'll tell him for you. You guys need to get out of here before Angela gets back."

Ok, I thought on the way to the car. It was time for me to man up and just asked her. I had made sure that I was a perfect gentleman all night and very attentive to her. I must have opened my mouth to ask her a dozen times on the ride home but I could not get myself to speak the words. If I asked and she said no the rest of ride home would be very uncomfortable.

Then the perfect opportunity presented itself. We were just entering the city limits of Forks when it started raining…again.

"Damn it!" Bella complained, "I left my umbrella in Rose's car."

"I guess that just means that I get to walk you to the door again."

"You don't have to Edward."

"I know I don't have to, I want to. There _is_ a difference."

When we pulled into her driveway, I grabbed my umbrella off the back seat, ran around the car to open her door for her and started to escort her to the porch. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close to me to ensure that she was under the umbrella with me. Yeah, that's the only reason I did it.

"Déjà vu," she said as we reached the door.

"What?"

"It's déjà vu. I mean didn't we just do this the other day?"

It was now or never I thought, "I would do this for you every day, Bella."

"You would?"

"Yes. I would. Bella, I need to ask you something."

"Ask away."

"The hospital fundraiser is coming up in two weeks…and …uh…I wanted to know if you would be my date."

"Like a real date?"

"Yes, a real date."

"You want to go on a date with me? Even though I am a teen mom?" And at that moment, I thought that I was going to throw up everything I ate tonight, right here on her porch.

A/N:

Yes. I ended it there. I've never done a cliffy before. BUT, I am going to do something else that I have never done before and I will probably never do again. I am offering a bribe in exchange for reviews. I wrote a 750 word drabble from Rose's POV and anyone that reviews will get that. I want to keep this story completely EPOV but I couldn't help writing this. It's something that he is not present for. OH! And Bella's answer is in the drabble. The next update won't be til Monday, probably, because I really need to work on the FYH update and we are celebrating my mom's birthday this weekend. She's finally old enough for Medicare! She's excited to have health insurance again!


	26. Chapter 27

LL Chapter 27

Her answer

I should have known that my ignorance would come back to bite me in the ass with Bella. I shoved the umbrella in her hands and started pacing on her porch in the rain, "Bella, I am ashamed to admit that for many years I've lived under the ignorant notion that the only thing that the girls in this town aspired to was to get married and have a baby, and not necessarily in that order. Then a few weeks ago an amazing woman, who happened to be a teen mom came into my life and challenged every ignorant, boorish, moronic, offensive notion that I had about teen moms and teen girls in general. Not only did she storm into the NICU I work at and punch me, but she stormed into my life and turned my world upside down and changed me for the better. You challenged everything I thought that I knew about life and showed me my ignorance. You never care what anyone else thinks about you and no matter what they do to you, you continue to hold your head high and continue with your life. You have had so much shit thrown at you, but you kept following your dreams and living life. I am in keep awe of you all the time. I am falling completely head of heels for you and for Tanya. The two of you have become the most important people in my life."

"Oh, Edward. Yes."

"Yes?" 

"Yes! I'd love to be your date for the fundraiser. I just needed to hear from you that you know that you understood that my daughter and I are a package deal. You don't get me without her too."

"I know, Bella, I know you are a package and that is absolutely fine with me. I adore your daughter just as much as I adore you. Just because this date won't include her doesn't mean that I am not already considering things that the three of us can go together."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

At that point, the Chief Swan poked his head out of the door, "What are you two doing standing out here in the rain?"

"Hey dad, uh…Edward just asked me if I would be his date to the hospital fundraiser."

"He did?"

"Yes, I did."

"Well, Hell! That means that Leah owes me fifty bucks! You just made my weekend, Edward!"

"Why does Leah owe you money because Edward asked me out?" Bella asked narrowing her eyes at her father, who cowered a little bit. It was such a funny sight to see a man that carried a gun cower from a small teenage girl, that I had to look away to keep from laughing.

"Don't get all hyper. She and I just had a little bet that's all."

"What was this little bet about?"

"Well, sort of on whether or not Edward was gay," that made my head shoot up, "I said he wasn't. That he was just smarter than any of the other little hormone driven fools around here and he was just waiting for the right girl to come around."

"See, that's what I told you. Only he said it a lot better than I did. I had better get home and you should get out of the rain before you get sick. Good night Bella. Night Charlie."

I heard them both respond good night back as I started to return to my car. I was sopping wet and freezing to the bone so I cranked the heat and watched Bella and Charlie disappear into the house. I do not remember how I actually made it home, one second I was pulling out of the Swan's driveway and the next I was pulling into mine. I could not believe that she actually said yes. I fell into bed with the most amazing sense of calm that I had felt in a long time.

When I entered the kitchen the next morning, Mom was making waffles, Dad was scrambling eggs, and Alice was cutting up fruit to put on the waffles.

"It's about time you got out of bed, sleepyhead," Mom teased me; "You can make the fresh juice." I grabbed the bag of oranges, a knife, and the juicer and set to work. I loved fresh juice much more that the juice you buy at the store so I really did not mind all the hard work it takes to make it. Besides, while it was a task that kept my mind busy it left my mind free to wander to thoughts about Bella.

As we sat eating our breakfast, Dad turned to Alice, "I need to know how many tickets I need to order for the fundraiser, is Jasper joining us again?"

"Yes he is."

"Ok, so that's five tickets."

"Six Dad," I spoke up after swallowing a bit of waffle.

"Six?"

"Yeah, Last night I asked Bella to be my date and she said yes."

All three of them just sat there staring at me as if I had grown a second head. After a moment, Mom smiled at me and then looked at Dad and said, "Six it is then." I knew that this was not going to be the end of the discussion. I knew that Mom and Dad would want to discuss the ramifications of dating someone with a child. There was nothing they could say to me I had not already thought of. I was already attached to Tanya and I would like to think that Tanya was becoming attached to me too.

I volunteered to wash the breakfast dishes because for one, all I had really done this morning was the juice and two; I knew that it would get me out of doing the dishes after dinner later tonight. I was scrubbing the waffle maker when Alice hugged me from behind, "Oh Edward, I'm so happy that you are going out with her."

"I thought that you were all for me going out with Angela?"

"All I have ever wanted was for you to be happy, whether it was with Angela or Bella or whoever."

"I am happy. I guess you could say that she's the one that I was waiting for. What about you and me hanging out this afternoon? Just us? We haven't done that in ages. Maybe drive up to Port Angeles and catch a movie?"

"Ooh, twin time! You're on brother dear," and she ran off to change while I finished the cleaning.

A/N: 

Ok. First things first, to the person or persons responsible for recommending Living Life for 'fic of the week' over at the lemonade stand, this is me tackling you to the ground and smothering you with hugs and kisses. I love my readers so damn much. And the response to the last chapter was nothing short of amazing. The link will be on my profile.

For those that are FYH readers the chapter is coming along. It's about half way through at this point. I am going outside my comfort zone with that chapter. Next chapter of LL, maybe tomorrow.


	27. Chapter 28

LL Chapter 28

Scared Shitless

You would think that being twins, Alice and I would have a lot in common, but we really do not. One thing that we can both always agree on though, is a good horror movie is the best kind of movie to watch. That is why the two of us ended up seeing Paranormal Activity 2 at the theatre. It did scare the crap out of us which is exactly what we like in films but we agreed that we liked the first one better.

We made it back to Forks just before dinner time. As we passed by the church we saw all the cars parked in the lot, including Rose's. Bella was in there talking about her past with everyone in the victims group. With as calm and well adjusted as she behaved it was difficult at times to remember that she recently the victim of a very violent crime and was still healing in many respects.

"Bella and I have our first Judo class on Wednesday."

"You set that up awfully fast."

"What can I say? I am not a procrastinator."

I could not disagree with that. My sister never put off doing anything and it was a bit annoying at times.

"Did you hear about Jessica?" 

"Why are you thinking about her?"

"Because we just passed her house. So did you hear?"

"I haven't heard anything knew about her, but I'm sure that you're more than willing to fill me in." 

"She's in rehab. Angela told me that she went voluntarily. I don't think that she had much choice now that Lauren is gone." 

"Are they going to the same facility? Because sending those two to rehab together is pretty pointless." 

"I know, right? Lauren is going to Seattle and Jessica's mom took her to one of those fancy rehab places that celebrities go to in California."

"That sounds right up Jessica's alley. She always was a drama queen. It was one of the few things that the two of you had in common."

She smacked me on the arm, "Oh, look who's talking mister 'I won't date because all girls are sluts' you sure changed your tune, huh?"

"Oh shut up. And don't smack the driver it's dangerous."

When we walked into the front door we found mom lying on the couch reading a book.

"MOM! Alice hit me while I was driving!" I ratted her out.

"MOM! Edward called me a drama queen!"

"As long as you two had fun," she replied not even looking up from her book, "Oh, I decided that I am not in the mood to cook dinner tonight so I ordered pizza, it should be here in a half hour and unless either of you are in the mood to clean the kitchen you will use paper plates, too."

That is the way that it went in our house. Mom loved to cook most of the time but like everyone else there were just days that she didn't feel like it. Sometimes on those nights we ordered in or sometimes it was a fend for yourself kind of night where you ate anything that you could find in the refrigerator.

Monday morning Alice and I were the first of our group to arrive at school so we went to stake claim to our favorite picnic table. I watched and waited for Bella to arrive. It was only the first day that she was allowed to drive again and I already missed picking her up for school. But she showed up about five minutes after we did putting me out of my misery. I stood up and walked over to meet her at her car. I opened her car door and held out my hand to help her out of the car.

I was still holding Bella's hand when Angela pulled into the open space next to Bella. She looked at us holding hands and quickly got out of her car and bolted into the school.

"She knows that you asked me out," Bella asked the question that was bouncing around my head, "I was telling Rose about you asking me and I didn't know that Angela was standing around the corner and could hear everything. By the way I am a little suspicious that she didn't seem all that surprised that you were going to ask me or even eager to know my answer, she just wanted to know how you asked me.

"Rose may have been in the know as I needed some female advice. Is Angela mad at you? I don't care what she thinks really but I don't want to be the cause of any trouble with your friends."

"You and Rose are really sneaky little brats. As for Angela, she will get over it. She just needs some space right to nurse her broken heart and wounded pride."

"If you say so."

"I do say so, Edward, you spent more time running from her than talking to her. I just don't understand how she ever thought that you were interested in her. It baffles the sleep deprived mind."

Then an idea hit me that I thought was a brilliant way to get what I wanted, "I don't know how you do it. How can you be up all night with the baby and at school all day without falling asleep? Maybe I should start picking you up for school and driving you home. We wouldn't want you falling asleep behind the wheel." 

You know what her response to that was? She laughed at me. She literally stood there and laughed at me, "Edward, if you want to pick me up for school then just ask me and as long as you aren't volunteering and I don't have a doctor's appointment I think that something could be arranged."

"May I drive you to school tomorrow?" I smirked at her.

"Yes you may," she smirked right back at me.

The next few days were more of the same; Angela kept herself separate from the group and even stopped joining us at lunch. On the other hand, I did get to drive to school and from school alone with Bella on Tuesday.

Since today is now Wednesday and Bella and Alice have Judo right after school I drove Bella to school and Alice drove herself so that they could ride together in Alice's car. When I arrived at the Swan's Bella was still upstairs getting ready so I waited in the kitchen for her.

I was sitting at the table thumbing through a fishing magazine of Charlie's when he entered the room, "Edward, I want to talk to you. Today. Can you meet me at the station right after school?"

"Uhhh. Yes, I can be there."

"Good. I'll see you then, and don't say anything to Bella about it. It's nothing that she needs to worry about," then he ran out the door and off to work. I could think of was that he was going to kill me and bury me under the police station.

A/N:

Another cliffy! What does Charlie want to talk about? You will definitely find out tomorrow.


	28. Chapter 29

LL Chapter 29

You Weren't There

I had spent the day contemplating the pros and cons of running away from home. I had no doubt that Charlie wanted to talk to me because I asked his daughter out. Whether or not he was going to kill me for even thinking about asking her out after what she had been through was another story.

I was shaking from head to tow when I walked into the station and told the dispatcher that Charlie had asked me to meet him here. Karen looked up at me with surprise, and then she turned her head to look behind her and yelled out, "Hey Chief, your date's here!"

"Very funny, Karen, so funny that maybe you should give up your day job and go on the road to do stand up…_please_."

"If I did that, who would be here to antagonize you all day?"

"No one if I'm lucky. Come on, Edward. Let's go to the diner for a coffee. That woman loves to irritate me. I'd fire her but she's my sister in law."

"I heard that!"

"GOOD!" If I wasn't so nervous I would have laughed at the whole exchange.

We walked in silence across the street to the diner. When we the waitress came to the table Charlie ordered a double chocolate malt, "Bella doesn't hear about this either, Edward, neither does my wife. I'd be eating salads for dinner for a week to make up for this. They think that I need to lose weight. Anyway, you look terrified Edward."

"Charlie, I think anyone would be scared if they were invited to a meeting at the police station and had no clue what it was about, except that maybe it was because said person has a date with the police chief's daughter."

Charlie looked out the window for a moment in silence before looking me directly in the eye, "You weren't there, Edward. You didn't see her lying in that hospital bed bruised, broken, and completely unrecognizable. It is a sight that, unfortunately, I will never forget."

"I can't even imagine how horrific that was for you and your ex-wife, Chief."

"No, you wouldn't. I almost went after them myself. I wanted to kill them for hurting her like that. She was unconscious so long that she was mostly healed, at least physically when she woke up. The bruises were long gone and two of her casts had come off. The incisions from the surgeries she needed to fix some internal injuries from being hit with that bat had healed and the facial swelling was gone. She still had some injuries to heal from, both physical and emotional, but she was on the mend. She is still dealing a lot of issues actually. She's never seen the pictures that the police took of her at the house when they found her or at the hospital, even through the trial I managed to get the lawyers and detectives from showing her. And there was no way that the defense was going to touch those pictures, too incriminating. I thank God every day that she doesn't remember any more than she does. She does not need those memories holding her back. Did she tell you that she coded three times on us those first few weeks? That we almost lost her completely?"

"No, she didn't."

"That's when all the trouble with her heart started. She had always been such a healthy girl before. Well, my ex-wife was beyond useless after it all happened. She suffered so much guilt for bringing Phil into our lives. I was so pissed when I found out that Bella had asked to move in with me, that she didn't trust Phil, but Tanya dissuaded her. We found out that Bella was pregnant four days before she woke up. Tanya started demanding that the doctors perform and abortion but I was against it. It was never a concept that I ever believed in and Tanya and I got into some major fights over it in hospital. We were actually escorted out by security once. Finally, the doctor in charge put his foot down on the subject, stating that it was not medically necessary to terminate the pregnancy and he was not going to force an abortion on a seventeen year old while she was unconscious without a court order. Luckily, Bella woke up before Tanya was able to get the court order and was adamant that she was not going end the pregnancy."

"Fucking hell! I had no…does she know her mother's stance on the baby?"

"Yes. It took about a month after Bella woke up to get Tanya to come around to the idea and she did a bit. But really it was just a major acting job. I had no idea, and neither did Bella, that Tanya was drinking so much and slipping away so fast. Part of me wishes that I had brought her to Forks immediately. But she had her doctors already set there and she had to be there for the trial and all that, so I left her there. I am so proud of the way that she handled everything. Hell, I am proud of the way that she still handles everything, but don't get me wrong Edward, just because she is strong doesn't mean that she's indestructible."

"I know that, sir."

"Good. Glad to hear that, son. What I really wanted to say to you, Edward, was those bastard's may have taken her innocence from her, but I'll be damned if I let them take her youth or future from her. She deserves to have the chance to be young and have fun, to be a teenager who dates and all that. I am very happy that she's chosen to go out with you, Edward. You are a good kid and I have no qualms about trusting you with her. I know that you will take good care of her and respect her. I was kind of hoping for this, to be honest. I also know that you like Tanya and that you are good with her, too. Now if you were more like the Newton boy, this would have been a much different conversation. You know that right?"

"I do know that. I promise I would never do anything to hurt them, at least intentionally. And I don't like Newton either. Jasper and I may have threatened his manhood if he allowed anything to happen to my sister while she was working with him."

"That's what I like to hear. I need to get back to the station. Take of her, Edward. Or you'll have to answer Leah, and quite honestly, you'll be begging me to shoot you before she's done with you." And with that he took the bill from the table and walked up the counter to pay so he could return to work, leaving me sitting in the booth thinking over everything he just told me and wanting to cry. How could anyone endure something like that and come out so strong on the other side? I realized that Bella was more amazing than I had originally given her credit for; she was truly a one of a kind angel that had blessed my life with her presence. Now how was I supposed to show her that?

A/N:

Was it what you were expecting? Maybe more tomorrow if not I'll try to write this weekend. It's a three day weekend and I am basically doing absolutely nothing. Thanks for everyone that vote for me at the lemonade stand.


	29. Chapter 30

LL Chapter 30

The In-laws

When Alice got home from her Judo lesson with Bella found me sitting in my room working on a Government assignment that I was due the next day. I had realized that I had been spending so much time thinking about Bella and Tanya that I had forgotten all about it. I was going to have to learn how manage my time a lot better if I was going to make this work with Bella.

I was just about finished when, in true Alice form, she came pounding on my door and I discovered that my sister was officially part of the Bella fan club. She was absolutely gushing about Bella. Apparently, Bella was a natural at Judo. Alice said that she was so focused, determined, and intense about it. But that was Bella in everything that she did.

She also informed me that the all of the girls, and that included Mom and Sue, were heading up to Seattle this weekend to go dress shopping for the fundraiser and they had decided to make a weekend of it and stay overnight Saturday night. It thrilled me to no end that she was going to have such a great shopping experience and that, according to Alice; she was really looking forward to it.

The next morning when we picked Bella up for school, we went into her house to wait for her. Truth be told, I wanted to see Tanya, too. I had not seen her in a couple of days and I missed her.

Leah and Seth came running down the stairs, they were going to be late for school on the reservation but they both stopped and gave their niece a kiss goodbye before running out the door. Leah stopped to yell, "Your welcome, Edward," and she closed the door behind her and confusing me.

Bella entered the kitchen at that moment and laughed at my confused face. Luckily she put me out of my confused misery quickly, "Leah agreed to stay home and babysit so that I can go to the fundraiser with you."

I was doing an internal happy dance like the geek that I am. I knew there were few people Bella would trust with Tanya, and Leah was definitely one of them. I knew that if she knew that her daughter was with Leah then she was safe and cared for and she would be able to relax and have fun with me at the fundraiser.

As Bella and I both had Science and Math tests the following day she and I decided to study together after school at her house since Sue was home with Tanya this afternoon and Bella did not like to be away from her for too long.

Alice had Jasper take her home so Bella and I could go straight to her house. Bella was absolutely so perfect for me in every way. Her intelligence complimented my own. In fact, I was sure that she was actually smarter than me.

While we were studying and Sue was cooking dinner, Tanya decided to create on of her stink bombs at which she just laughed. Bella said that she had just recently started laughing. I stayed in the kitchen with Sue while Bella took Tanya upstairs to change her until Bella yelled down asking me to bring up the diaper bag.

When I got to the room that Bella and Tanya shared and it was amazing. The walls had been painted a sky blue with white fluffy clouds. Covering all of the walls were butterflies. I do not mean painted on butterflies. I mean 3-D replicas of butterflies attached to the walls, the ceiling, and hanging from the ceiling on strings. It was like entering a butterfly palace. The bedding on both Bella's bed and Tanya's crib were the same lavender with butterflies that were on Bella's.

"This is so cool!"

"Leah and Seth did it when I had Tanya as a welcome home gift to us. I absolutely love it."

"I do too."

When we were done changing Tanya, we returned to the kitchen to finish working. After Sue asked if I was joining them for supper and Bella said that she wanted me to stay, I called Mom and told her about my change in plans. Eating dinner at Bella's house was a strange experience. Everyone followed Bella's strict diet in solidarity. At least in front of her they did. I have a feeling that, just like Charlie and his milkshake yesterday, they all cheated a little when she was not around.

I found it absolutely hilarious that everyone at the table was so tuned in the baby and every noise and movement that she made. They doted on her and spoiled her with hugs and kisses, if that was even possible. I will admit that she had my attention. I would love to say that she had my undivided attention but my attention was evenly divided between the adorable baby and her beautiful mother sitting next to her.

After dinner, they were planning a family game of scrabble so I excused myself reluctantly and headed home. I kept thinking back to the things that Charlie told me yesterday and the things that I already knew about Bella's past and was in awe at the way that they were all able to move past it and continue on with life. I still wanted to hurt those bastards for hurting Bella like that.

Saturday Mom and Alice left in Mom's SUV to meet up with Rose Rose's mom, Bella, Sue, and Tanya to go shopping in Seattle for dresses. The Moms were going to drive in one car and the daughter's in another. Except for Bella and Tanya who were obviously riding together.

Since the babies in the NICU had been released, I was free for the day and so was Dad who had the day off, so I called Emmett and Jasper to invite them to hang out. The girls were having their fun weekend out and us guys were having our fun weekend in.

A/N: 

Sorry for the delay in posting, my family ended up forcing me to refrain from writing this weekend. I had a house full of emo teens driving me crazy. I will try to update tomorrow, with the boys night, but I am also working on the FYH update, which will hopefully be ready soon, so we'll see. Come play with me on twitter while I simultaneously brag on and complain about my 13 yr old son.


	30. Chapter 31

LL Chapter 31

Boys Night

Dad and I picked up Emmett and Jasper at around ten to head up to the tux shop in Port Angeles. Being a small town doctor he just did not have an excuse to actually own his own tux and we all really needed to rentals ordered.

After they finally managed to find one in another store that had one in Emmett's size, Dad suggested that we grab a quick lunch before heading back to Forks. I think that he was just stalling as the next thing on our agenda was some two on two basketball at the outdoor court at the high school. I know that Emmett was not looking forward to it. He played with us because he knew that Jasper and I loved to play but he was about as coordinated on the cement court as Bella was when she was bowling.

Thinking about Bella got me thinking about what kind of dress she was going to pick out. Would she be daring enough to go strapless? What color would she choose? God, I was officially sounding like my sister now.

We decided to play Dad and me against Jasper and Emmett. After the third time that Emmett tripped over his own feet, he stomped his foot and shout, "It's too hard to run and maneuver on cement. Turf is so much easier."

"Yeah, keep blaming it on the cement fat boy," Jasper laughed at him, "You don't see the old man over there complaining, do you?"

"Watch who you're calling 'old" there kid, if you want to be able to continue seeing the 'old man's' daughter." Emmett and I started laughing at Jasper's horror-stricken face. I really wanted to be in the room the day that he finally asked for permission to marry Alice.

"Laugh it up, Edward," Dad said, "just wait until the Chief corners you about dating his daughter. You think Jasper was scared silly to face me? I don't carry a gun like the chief does!"

"Too late for that warning Dad. He and I had a nice chat yesterday over contraband milkshakes."

"Sue will skin him if she finds out he's sneaking junk food."

"You won't catch me ratting the guy out. He's happy about the fact that Bella is going out with me and I am not about to do anything to ruin it."

We continued to play for a couple more hours. By the time that Dad and I annihilated them three times, we were all not only exhausted but we were getting hungry again. We all decided to head back to the house to gorge ourselves on junk food all night while we wasted away playing video games and watching movies. Our first stop was at the grocery store to pick up supplies. By supplies, I mean chips, ice cream with all the supplies to make sundaes, soda, beer (for Dad), popcorn, and lots of candy. Of course, we thought about an actual dinner. Dad ordered a few pizzas for us to pick up on our way home.

We made it home and wolfed down the three pizzas while playing Guitar Hero, Grand Theft Auto, and the Godfather, all the games that Mom hates for us to play. I wonder if she knew how often Dad played them with us?

It was two in the morning and I was lying awake on my bed. Jasper and Emmett were going to crash here since Dad was their ride and had been drinking. I think they probably would have ended up staying anyway. Emmett fell asleep on the couch around eleven and the rest of us retired about an hour ago. Jasper was currently crashed on my couch. I am sure that he was have rather have taken Alice's room even if she was not here but he was not about to push his luck with Dad.

Figuring that Bella was probably up with Tanya, I grabbed my phone and sent her a text, "Good night beautiful ladies! I hope you had fun today."

A few seconds later a text came back through, "I did. Your sis has too much energy. LOL!"

"Tell me about it. I am pretty sure that she was like that when we were still in the womb."

"LOL! She's great though."

"Did you find a dress?"

"I did. But you don't get details until next Saturday."

"How the little angel?"

"Being a little stinker right now. Won't sleep."

"Sorry to hear that. Wish I could help." The dinging of my phone must have woken Jasper because he got up and left the room. I guess he found an excuse to sleep in Alice's room after all.

"That's ok. I was warned that I wouldn't get to sleep again for many years." 

"How bout you come over tomorrow when you get back and watch a movie and maybe get a nap?"

"Can't. Have group. Sorry."

"Forgot. That's ok. I should work off tonight anyway."

"What did you do?"

"Ate too much garbage. Now my tummy hurts."

"LOL! We leave you boys alone for one night and you get into trouble."

"We have no self-control."

"I guess not. She's asleep. YEA!"

"Then I will let my get to sleep while I go hunt up some Tums."

"Nite. Hope you feel better."

"Goodnight my beautiful angels."

It took several Tums tablets and about two more hours before I was finally able to fall asleep. I guess we should have set an alarm to get up because we were woken by Mom, screaming at us to get our asses out of bed and clean up the disaster area that should be her living room. Yeah, there were empty cans, pizza boxes everywhere, and ice cream sundaes dripping onto her carpet. If Mom had not been so pissed off, I would have found the look on Dad's face amusing. We was trying to go for the sheepish look, but kept grimacing, I guess he had one too many beers last night. When I walked out of the room to get a garbage bag Mom was still yelling about stains on her white carpet and grounding Dad for his bad behavior.

A/N:

Uh oh! Carlisle's in trouble! Maybe another tomorrow but we'll see. Finishing the FYH update took a lot of me today. Enjoy!


	31. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

The Date

We never were able to get the chocolate ice cream and soda stains out of Mom's white carpet. We tried everything that we could think of. Dad even tried calling in professional carpet cleaners but the stains were set in. The only option now was replacing the carpeting.

It was a good thing that Dad did not cave and let us have some beer last night. We tried to talk him into it but he was resolute in his answer of, "no way in Hell." Mom really would have hit the roof if she found out he let us drink and he would have been sleeping in the guest room for at least few days, maybe weeks. As it was, he was not allowed to watch Sunday football for a month; he was going to accompany her to whatever activity she had lined up since she obviously could not trust to be the adult when left in charge. Today it was a class on flower arranging. Good luck Dad!

You know how when you are eager for something time seems to drag on forever. Yeah, that is how my Saturday was going. Mom and Dad had taken off for Port Angeles early this morning. As the head of the fundraising committee, Mom had to be there to oversee the set up and make sure that everything was ready for tonight. Alice had gone out with Rose, Sue, Mrs. Hale, and Bella to get their hair and nails done for tonight which left me alone in the house with nothing but the voices in my head to keep me company.

Lucky for me all the voices were eager for my date with Bella tonight. The only thing that I could get out of Alice about Bella's dress was that I was going to love the way she looked in it and Mom was actually the one to pick it out.

Finally it was time to start getting dressed to go. Mom had picked up our tuxes yesterday and mine had been hanging on the back of my door taunting me all day. I was so nervous about being on an official date with Bella tonight that I could not keep my hands from shaking as I attempted to tie my bowtie. I was determined to make this night as perfect as possible for Bella. Since it was my first date too, it had to be normal to be this nervous, right? Especially considering Bella's father was going to be there with us all night. Ok, that line of thought did nothing to calm my nerves any.

At last it was time to leave to pick her up. I made sure that I had everything that I needed before grabbing the flowers I bought for Bella from the fridge and left to pick her up. I thought about getting her a corsage, like guys do at prom, but I realized that I've never seen anyone wearing one in the two previous years that I have been allowed to go to the fundraiser. It is only for those sixteen and older to keep it a more adult night.

Leah and Tanya answered the door, when I knocked, and let me in. Tanya immediately started reaching for me, so I set Bella's flowers down on the table in the entryway and grabbed her into my arms. Leah told me that Bella would be down in any second and walked into the living room to spread Tanya's play blanket on the floor. It was just an old comforter that they used to lay Tanya on so they did not have to lay her directly on the floor. I sat down next to Leah on the blanket and laid Tanya down on her stomach. I had spent enough time with them this week to know that Tanya was trying to roll over for the first time. Bella was really excited for it to happen.

I heard the clicking of her shoes on the wooden stairs before I saw her. When she finally came into view on the stairs she absolutely took my breath away. Her gown was navy blue with only one strap, there were these amazing diamond shaped cut outs that showed off the skin on her side and waist. Then there was this slit in the dress. It was a floor length gown and this slit went all the way up her thigh. My own mother picked this out? How was I supposed to be respectful and behave like a gentleman when Bella looked that breathtaking and sexy all at the same time? Was I actually still breathing?

I had not even realized that I was still sitting there on the floor looking like an idiot until Leah reached over, put her finger on my chin, and pushed my mouth shut and laughed at me. I jumped up and grabbed the flowers off the table and handed them to Bella, "Oh Edward, you didn't have to, but they are beautiful. Thank you."

"They are not nearly as beautiful as you are, especially in that dress. You look amazing tonight," which caused her to blush.

"You look pretty good in that tux yourself," She reached up to straighten my bowtie, "Let me put these in some water and we'll go."

"I'll take care of the flowers; I promised Mom, Charlie, and Seth I would get lots of pictures of the two of you together."

After Leah took several pictures of Bella and me, I insisted that we get a picture together holding Tanya. If the camera had not been digital I think that Leah would have gone through at least four rolls of film taking pictures of us.

After both of us giving Tanya several kisses goodbye and Bella promising Tanya that she would be home later tonight, I took Bella's hand and led her to my car and started the hour long drive to Port Angeles Hilton where the dinner was being held. Once I was in the car and had it in gear, I only took my hand off of Bella's once during the whole drive to check a very important text message that came through about a half hour after we left. Everything was falling into place and even though the evening had just started and it was already the best night of my life.

I pulled up to the valet parking at the Hilton and rushed around the car to help Bella out before handing the keys to my car to the guy that approached us. As we entered the hotel we found Emmett and Rose standing in the lobby. It looked as if they just arrived themselves. I looked over to the corner of the room where I knew that someone was hiding behind a pillar watching us and nodded my head to them before following Bella over to Rose and Emmett.

"Whoa, you've been hiding that body under those hoodies this entire time girl? It's a shame that you girls don't dress this way for school everyday. It would definitely make classes a hell of a lot more interesting to attend!" Bella started to blush and moved a little so that she was just slightly hidden behind me.

"You have no tact sometimes Emmett, don't make her uncomfortable," Rose chastised him while smacking him across the back of his head, "but really, you look so amazing that no one is ever going to believe that you just had a baby three months ago"

She blushed more, but Rose and Emmett were totally right, though. Bella had obviously lost any weight that she might have gained from the pregnancy. Rose, herself, looked absolutely amazing in this purple floor length gown that showed off her favorite part of her own body, her chest. The dress was almost indecent but it was a normal look for Rose and complimented her figure and skin tone beautifully.

The four of us walked into the ballroom together and Emmett and I led the girls over to the table where Mom, Mr. and Mrs. Hale, and Sue were sitting. Then Emmett and I offered to get our girls some drinks and wandered over to the bar where Dad and Charlie were standing.

As we stood at the bar waiting for our drinks, Dad reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope and handed it to me, which I quickly put into the interior pocket of my jacket before anyone noticed. Dad waited for my drink order to be done and walked back to the table with me where everyone was still gushing about how amazing the Bella and Rose looked.

We had only been seated a about a half and hour when Alice and Jasper entered the room. I knew exactly where they had been and why they were late, so did most everyone else at the table. Since Alice was getting ready at Rose's it was not as if Jasper had to actually pick my sister up or anything. Alice cast me a wink as she took the empty chair next to me and whispered that everything was set.

We had only been sitting there about fifteen minutes chatting when the first of soup was served and the speeches on stage began. I do not think that even the adults were really paying attention to what was being said on stage. I know my attention was on my beautiful date.

Mom did a wonderful job on the menu; everything that they served was healthy and delicious, with the exception of the dessert which was a death by chocolate cake. Dad, who was sitting on the other side of Bella, had got a piece of cake that was slightly bigger than Bella's reached over and switched the plates with a wink.

After dinner was done the band that Mom hired started playing and people started drifting out to the dance floor. It was about the third dance in when the band started a slow song and I turned to Bella and asked her to dance with me.

She very tentatively allowed me to lead her to the dance floor and I pulled her close to me wrapping me right arm around her waist holding her to me. We danced for a couple of songs then Bella was needed a break so I took her back to the table and went to get her a glass of water from the bar.

"Don't let her over do it," Dad warned me coming up behind me at the bar and then turning to order Mom another glass of wine, "She may seem fine but her heart is still recovering. Exercise is good for her but too much exertion for her is not a good thing right now."

"I'll remember that, Dad. We're taking a rest right now anyways." 

We spent the next couple of hours alternating between dancing and resting before Bella started to yawn and I suggested that we take a stroll through the hotel to get some peace and quiet.

I held her hand, again, as we wandered down to where I knew was an atrium beyond the lobby. There I turned to face her and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulled her close to me, and laid my forehead to hers. We stood there like that for a few moments before I whispered, "may I kiss you Miss Swan?"

"Please," was all that she whispered back before I leaned down and gently kissed her lips. Then I kissed her again and then again and then again. Our kisses were passionate while still being quite chaste. There was no groping; our hands behaved themselves which was a feat for me because I know that mine desperately wanted to explore that exposed skin on her side. But I wanted to be careful not to push her too far too fast. I wanted this night to remain being as perfect as it was and not be marred by flashbacks because I could not behave like gentleman.

When we pulled away for the last time she peered out of the door and gasped when she noticed that it was snowing outside. We stepped outside and we were both surprised to see how much snow had already accumulated. I knew that there was a small storm coming in tonight and had already planned ahead for it. I quickly ushered us back inside, not only was it cold outside but she was wear high heel shoes and I did not want her to slip and fall.

"Are we going to be able to get home?" I knew that she would be worried about being separated from Tanya all night.

"Do you trust me?"

"I wouldn't be here with you right now if I didn't, Edward."

"Then follow me, I have a surprise for you."

She willingly followed me to the elevators and up to the fifth floor of the hotel without asking any questions. I knew that she was curious as to why we were heading upstairs but knew that I would not hurt her and refrained from asking questions. When I stop in front of suite 511, I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the envelope that my dad had given and a pulled out the key card for the room and handed it to Bella and instructed her to open the door to get her surprise.

Whatever Bella was expecting to find in the hotel room when she opened the door was evidently not what she found based on the squeal of surprise she let out when she found Leah and Tanya standing in the middle of the room.

"How?"

"We heard on the news that a storm was approaching and Mom and Dad weren't comfortable with any of us trying to drive home in the snow so late at late and booked some more rooms. You and Leah have this room, Alice and Rose and next door, I am right across the hall, and Jasper and Emmett are next to me."

"Do they really think those four will stay separated?"

"Nope, and that is why the adult's rooms are three floors up from here. Ignorance is bliss I guess."

"Ok. How did you get Leah and Tanya here? 

"I set this up with her through Charlie the other day. They left the house a half hour after we did. Leah needed time to pack you an overnight back with everything that you'd need. Alice and Jasper were hidden in the lobby when we arrived and waited to help Leah get everything up to the room."

"This has been the best night ever. Thank you, Edward!" She turned and hugged me tightly, "thank you so much for being so wonderful."

"So, do you want to go back downstairs to listen to the band some more or catch a movie in the room?"

She took her daughter from Leah and sighed, "Let's give Leah a break and watch a movie in your room and get some peace and quiet. Let me change and Tanya and I will be over in a few minutes."

"That sounds perfect."

"It sounds perfect to me too," Leah piped up, "there's a heated indoor pool downstairs with my name on it."

As I walked across the hall to my room I could not help feeling a bit smug. It had been the perfect evening for both Bella and I and I could not wait to ask her out again.

A/N:

I was going split this into three parts and post them separately but felt guilty doing so and decided to put them together into one long ass chapter. I hope that you enjoyed their first date and Edward's surprise for her. Well, everyone was in on it but her. If you want to see the dresses that they wore there is a link to a collage I set up on my profile.

I am going on a day trip tomorrow to the Amana Colonies and then Sunday is rehearsal day for my son so no more til Monday. Enjoy!


	32. Chapter 33

LL Chapter 33

Trials of Parenthood

It took Bella fifteen minutes to come over to my room. When she arrived she had changed into sweats, washed the makeup off her face, and pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail. In all honesty, even with as sexy as she looked in that dress, I preferred her like this. This was the natural, true Bella.

"Will you go grab her carrier for me?" Bella asked attempting to carry Tanya, the diaper bag, and the comforter into my room. I grabbed the diaper bag and the blanket from her and set them down before going across the hall to her room and grabbing the baby carrier.

Tanya was still wide awake. I really did not know if was normal for baby her age, but it seemed unusual to me so I asked Bella if it was normal for her to awake this late at night, "Not really, but she's been very fussy about sleeping lately. I read that their sleeping patterns will change when they are three months old, but I thought that they meant that she would sleep more through the night."

"Could she be teething?"

"She's a little young for that yet. I mean, it can happen but it normally doesn't until they are about six months old and considering that she was a preemie, I doubt that's it."

The three of us settled on the bed to watch a movie. Bella and I were lying up by the pillows with Tanya in between us cooing at us while she tried out her voice. After flipping through all of the movies on the pay-per-view we finally decided on the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It took all of about twenty minutes for Tanya to give in and fall asleep. Bella and I got involved in the movie until we started hearing a tiny little cough coming from the baby between us.

It was an hour into the movie when Tanya woke up screaming and coughing like a baby seal. One touch to her forehead told both of us that she had a fever. I ran over to my jacket on the chair across the room and grabbed my phone, "Dad. I need you to come down to my room."

"What's going on? Is that Tanya crying?"

"Yes. She's sick. She is crying, coughing, and has a fever."

"I'll be right there."

It only took Dad five minutes to make it down to my room but it was a long five minutes of listening to Tanya screaming her head off. I was going to need some fricken Advil in a minute. I could not understand how parents could stand their kids sometimes. I was ready to bolt from the room and leave Bella to tend her daughter; after all it's not my kid, right? She was not my kid after all. One look at Bella's face, however, wiped those thoughts right out of my head. Bella looked so scared that there was no way that I was going to leave her to deal with this alone. I guess this is just one those shitty parts of dating someone with a kid that I would have to learn to deal with. Plus, walking out on Bella when her daughter was sick and would not stop crying would pretty much guarantee that I would never get that second date with her that I wanted.

I went to let Dad in when I heard the knock and was surprised to see Mom and Dad standing there in their pajamas. "Oh…someone is really miserable in here…" Dad grabbed Tanya from Bella and she quieted down almost immediately. He moved around us to walk over to the bed to examine her, "You do have a fever don't you little one. Remember that when you get frustrated she can feel it and will react to it. Try to switch off holding her and maybe escape for a minute or two in the hall to calm down." I should have known that, but I could not think clearly with all that screaming. After a few minutes of examining Tanya, Dad looked up at us, "She just has a head cold. But given her preemie nature I would be very cautious about it. Have her sleep in the baby carrier to keep her head elevated. Do you have a humidifier at home?"

"Yes, we do."

"Good. Keep it on around her. There is a drug store across the street, I am going to run over and pick up some Tylenol and saline drops for her. Put a cool rag on her forehead and after her fever breaks you can take her into the bathroom and turn on the water at full heat, the steam will be good for her."

"I can run over to the store, Dad."

"Edward, trust me when I say that you will just end up calling me or your mom when you see the display of baby medicines and get confused. There will be plenty of time for you to learn to navigate that department. Now is not it. Stay here and help Bella. Besides, I want a candy bar."

Mom left to return to her room when Dad left and Tanya started getting fussy again. Bella grabbed the diaper bag and started digging in it. "Ah-ha!" She pulled out a little pink wash cloth. "Leah remembered how adamant I was last weekend that I take her washcloth while we in Seattle." She took the wash rag to the bathroom and brought it back wet and put it on Tanya head. Tanya, for part open her eyes look at us and closed her eyes with a sigh.

It was going to be a really long night. Mom and Dad must have thought the same because they called down to room service and order some lemonade, a tray of sandwiches, and fruit for us to munch on.

When Dad returned he helped us administer the medicine to Tanya and then he grabbed a couple of the sandwiches for himself and Mom on his way back out. When I asked him if he wanted to take some lemonade too he declined saying that he and Mom were old enough to raid the mini-bar. Then it was just Bella and I alone with a sick baby for the rest of the night.

We did manage to get some sleep once the Tylenol kicked in. Bella offered to go back to her room but I refused to let them go. This was just a part of dating Bella that I was going have learn to live with and accept. Oddly enough, I was glad that Tanya was here. Bella would have been so upset if she got home in the morning and found out that her daughter was sick and she had not been there for her.

A/N:

General consensus was that Edward did good with his surprise. Did anyone catch the little clues that I put in that suggested that he was up to something? So much for the perfect date but life happens and Edward needed a dose of the reality of dating a mom. I am writing a one-shot for fandom for Texas. The link will be up on my profile later tonight.


	33. Chapter 34

LL Chapter 34

The Morning After

When I said that we got some sleep, it was really maybe two hours tops. That kid had some major lung power and could really get loud when she was frustrated and upset. I kept expecting the hotel management to show up saying that they had had too many complaints about the screaming baby and we needed to leave.

I was so exhausted by the time that morning came around. I could not understand how Bella managed to do this everyday. How did she manage to go to school and keep her grades up after being up all night with a baby?

"Do you want coffee or tea?" I was perusing the room service menu. It was the only way that we were going to get breakfast before we left.

"Hot Cocoa? Oh and I would really love some blueberry pancakes for breakfast please."

I nodded and called our breakfast order in and went and flopped down on the bed and started flipping through the channels trying to get a gauge on the road conditions. It was not as bad as I thought it would be and we would have no problems getting home.

Attempting to eat breakfast ended up being an extraordinarily stressful event. Tanya would not allow us to put her down and she could not make up her mind as to who she wanted to hold her. One minute she would want Bella, the next she would want me, then she would want Bella again. We kept passing a fussing, crying baby back and forth while our food got cold.

We were about a half hour into this pass the baby game we were playing when there was a knock on the door. I got up and answered it expecting it to be Dad checking on Tanya but was surprised to see that it was Charlie. As soon as Tanya heard Charlie's voice she started fussing again and reaching out in the direction from which she heard Charlie's voice, so I passed her off…again.

She quieted down immediately, but this time she remained quiet and snuggled into Charlie and closed her eyes. "She just wanted her Grandpa," Charlie laughed after we told him about the way that she had just been behaving. "I talked to Carlisle and he told me that she was sick and you two probably had a really long night, so I thought you could use a little break and thought I would take her upstairs with me and Sue while you two get hot showers…separately and a little rest."

"Thanks Dad!" And Bella ran out of the room like a bat out of Hell.

"Mothers of newborns learn very fast that when someone offers to watch the baby while you get a hot shower in peace and quiet you run fast before said baby starts screaming and the babysitter escapes." Then he stole a piece of bacon before he grabbed the diaper bag and carrier and disappeared with Tanya.

After a long hot shower I threw on my sweats before left the bathroom. I was glad that I did because when I walked out into the main room I found that Bella had not only returned but was fast asleep on one of the beds. I set the alarm on my phone, walked over to the bed, covered her up with the comforter and then I went to the other bed, threw the phone down on the pillows, collapsed and was completely gone in seconds.

When I became aware that my alarm was going off I opened my eyes to see Bella laying there watching me sleep from the other bed, "I'm sorry we kept you up all night. We should have gone back to our room and let you sleep."

"I'm sorry that Tanya is sick but I'm not sorry that you stayed and let me help you. If I'm being honest though, there was a tiny part of me that wanted to run for the hills, but there is no way that I would actually have done it. As tired as I am, I'm glad that I stayed and that you trusted me enough to stay and let me help."

"I really do trust you, Edward, more than I thought I would when I first met you. And I totally get the wanting to run thing, Hell, I have had my moments when she is screaming her head off and I can't figure out what's wrong or at three in the morning when I am beyond exhausted and just want to sleep, and all I want to do is hand her to Dad or Sue and check out for a bit. I mean, I would never ever leave her, but sometimes every parent just needs a break, you know? Thank you again, for staying last night and helping me because in reality you really didn't have to and I would not have blamed you for running, because she's not your daughter or your responsibility."

"I know that, Bella, and I am not going anywhere. I just don't understand how you have been doing this every night and keeping up in school. Is she still with your Dad?"

"Yeah, I had better go get her so that we can get on the road." 

"Ok. I'll call down and have the valet start the car so that it will be nice and warm while you're gone."

Then she was gone and I was sitting there replaying our conversation in my head, she was absolutely right about Tanya not being my daughter or my responsibility. I did not really want to be a father at my age, at all so why did I suddenly not feel so well. I could not put my finger on exactly what it was so I assumed that I must be coming down with Tanya's cold and went to call the front desk.

I was organizing all of our bags. I had only one bag. Bella had only one bag. Tanya on the other hand, had one overnight bag of clothes, one bag of toys, her blanket, and her floor gym, and then there was the diaper bag and the carrier that Charlie took upstairs with him. How could the tiniest one of us have so more luggage than Bella and I put together. I walked out to the hall and found Jasper standing there talking to Rose and noticed that they had a couple of luggage carts in the hall and Jasper and Rose were actually fighting over one of them. Between her and Alice they had brought enough shit to last a week instead of one night.

I had just put the last bag on one of the carts when Bella returned. She had the diaper bag in the carrier and was attempting to hold a pink blanket around Tanya. I could see from where I was that Tanya was not wearing a shirt, probably only a diaper.

"Sorry that took so long, we had a little diaper problem and I needed to stop and rinse out the outfit she was in."

"Is she ok?" 

"Yeah, what with being sick and the Tylenol she just has a little tummy trouble and there was a bit of a stinky leak that I needed to get cleaned up. Can you grab an outfit for her out of her bag so that I can get her dressed?"

She was just finishing dressing Tanya someone knocked on the door. I opened it to find Mom standing there with a bag from the drug store, "Hey sweetie," she greeted me kissing me on the cheek, "I just brought something important that your father forgot last night. I swear the man is a brilliant surgeon and he forgets something as important as this!" She reached into the bag and pulled out a bottle of Pedialyte. "This will help prevent dehydration. Just pour it straight into the bottle and your good to go."

"Thanks Mom."

"You're welcome, dear. Your father and I are heading home now since he has to work this afternoon. I want you to drive safely and slowly and remember that you have a lot of precious cargo in your car today."

"I will, Mom. I'll see you at home," and then she took off down the hall towards the elevators. I turned and found Bella was strapping Tanya into the carrier. After bundling ourselves up, I took the carrier, held it with my left hand and took Bella's hand in my right and we walked down to the elevators hand in hand.

When we got down to the lobby, we found Emmett loading our luggage in my car. Bella and I were the last one's to leave since we had to get the car seat situated in my back seat and then I wanted to stop and the gas station to ensure that I the tank was absolutely full before we took off on the highway.

But as soon as I slid into the driver's seat and looked over at Bella and then back at Tanya's carrier. I could not see her because Bella had put the seat in backwards. Of course I had to open my mouth and embarrass myself while she had been trying to get the car seat to connect to the base, "You're putting it in wrong."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. You have her facing the wrong direction. You have her facing the back seat. She should be facing the front so we can see her."

Then she laughed at me, "Edward! Babies are supposed to face backwards until they are at least a year old for their safety." How the hell was I supposed to know that?

But as soon as I was in the car and ready to drive off I became extremely nervous. Mom was right, I had a lot of precious cargo and they were putting their lives in my hands. I knew that I was a good driver, but I did not have all that much experience driving in snow. I was so nervous that I crept along all the way home. The drive that normally only takes us about an hour, ended up taking us two and a half hours. Bella kept an amused look on her face the whole way home.

I was not at all surprised to find that no one else was home at her house when we got there; Charlie and Sue were planning to go straight to work like Dad did, and Leah was stopping at the reservation to get Seth on her way home. They would not be back for hours as that stop would inevitably include a stop at Sam's too.

I helped Bella carry everything into the house. She put the carrier that contained a finally sleeping Tanya on the floor next to the couch and knew that it was time for me to leave. I really did not want to, but Bella had been yawning most of the ride home. I tried to encourage her to sleep in the car but she said that had never been able to sleep in a moving vehicle.

"Do you want me to come back and drive you to your group this afternoon?"

"I'm not going. I was going to take her with me today but not if she's sick. I intend to sack out on the couch and sleep now that she's finally out."

"That sounds like a great idea," I leaned down and kissed her lips, I'll just go and let you sleep, but if you need anything at all just call me and I will run and get it for you."

I turned and started to leave and I was almost to the door when Bella grabbed my arm, when I turned around she kissed me, "thank you Edward. I had an amazing time with you last night. And thank you for staying with me and helping with Tanya. It means so much to me that you stayed."

"I'm here for you anytime." Then I kissed her on the cheek before walking out to my car and went home. I got as far as the couch in my own living room before collapsing on it and falling asleep and that is where I stayed there for the rest of day. When I woke later that afternoon I found a post-it note stuck to my forehead with a note from Mom saying that she and I needed talk as soon as I woke up.

A/N:

Sorry about the delay. I got struck with a two day migraine and had to attend my son's open house and football game. Not a fun week. It literally hurts to think. I am also writing an O/S for fandom for Texas called "Undeniably Yours" the link to donate is on my profile. I will post a summary to it as soon as I get a little farther into the story!


	34. Chapter 35

LL Chapter 35

Motherly Advice

I rubbed my face with my hands. I was still so completely exhausted that all I really wanted to do was lay back down and go back to sleep but I was hungry too. I decided that I might as well get up and go in search of my mother and see what she wanted to talk about. I finally found her in the kitchen pulling a pie out of the oven, "That smells good. Is it apple?"

"No, I had a craving for peach pie. Besides we needed something to eat with the vanilla ice cream in the freezer."

"Nice justification there Mom," I laughed.

"Sit down, shut up, and don't pick on your mother."

I sat at the breakfast bar like the obedient son that I try to be, "Are Dad and Alice home yet?"

"No. Dad will be at the hospital late and Alice is having dinner at the Hales. So it is just the two of us. I thought that we'd make fajitas and play cards or something tonight. I would love to spend some quality time with my son."

"Sound like fun, Mom."

"We have chicken, steak, and shrimp."

"Yes, please."

"That's my boy! I never could understand how your father and sister could consistently limit themselves to just chicken in their fajitas."

"Those two are just strange, Mom. I thought you realized it by now. Although I think Alice's problem is she's inhaled too many fumes from all of the hair spray and nail polish she uses."

We worked together to prepare dinner. While I chopped the meat and the vegetables, Mom made the homemade guacamole and corn salsa that we loved. As Mom pulled out the cast iron skillet, I started to set the table. I decided that, considering how spicy Mom and I liked our fajitas and salsa, large glasses of milk would me the best choice in drinks for us.

After we finished eating, we washed the dishes together before going to the living room to watch a movie while we played cards. Mom was never one to beat around the bush when there was something on her mind, "So, I wanted to talk to you about last night."

"Yeah, it was a long one. Even with my nap, I am still wiped out from being up all night."

"I remember those days well. Are planning on taking Bella out for another date?"

"Yes, I am."

"You need to show Bella that you respect her by treating her like a lady."

"I am treating her with respect, Mom."

Mom took a moment to finish dealing the cards for the first round of our favorite game of gin, and then she looked up at me, "You are not treating her with respect by having her in your hotel room that late at night. Moreover, it was your first date with her too. I thought I raised you better than that."

"Mom, it was completely innocent. I swear, we were just watching a movie and spending time with Tanya."

"It doesn't matter how innocent it may have been, honey, it's the appearance it makes to anyone that saw her enter or leave your room. Your father and I are very proud that you stood by her and helped her take care of her sick child last night. But we are worried that you are not thinking this through in terms of the long term effects this relationship will have on all three of you."

"Jeez Mom, a little bi-polar there aren't you," I snipped.

"I know it is and watch your tone with me."

"Sorry Mom."

"Tanya is a sweet baby Edward but remember she is not your daughter and very soon you will be off to college. All you have ever talked about is getting out of Forks and moving to a big city. That is still the plan isn't it?"

"Yes, that is still my plan."

"Where does Bella want to go to college?"

I groaned. That was a topic that I had been avoiding. "I don't know. We've talked about what we want to study but not where."

"That might be something important to talk about. You are getting very attached to them both."

"Yes, I am."

"Any that precious baby is becoming very attached to you, too."

"I know."

"Edward, Bella is a very nice girl and she has every opportunity to move beyond everything that happened and have a great future, and if that future includes you by her side with the three of you happy then your father and I will be happy for you and support you on it. But your father and I are concerned about you. Promise me that you are not going to compromise your dreams for any reason."

"I'm not mom. I am still going to go to get out of Washington and go to med school. But you are right. I need talk to Bella about this soon."

"Good, Gin." I looked down at the cards and sure enough she had won the game and it also ended the heavy conversation. I also knew that her comments were not personal about Bella. She was just a mom and it was her job to worry about her son's future.

We continued to play cards until I could not stay awake any longer and went to bed. I thought about calling Bella but I was not sure if she and Tanya would be asleep or not. I did not want to accidentally wake Tanya with the ringing phone so I settled for a good night text message instead. When I did not get a response back I was sure that they were asleep and I had made the right decision.

As I was laying there in the quiet of my room, I started thinking about Bella and wondering if she was going to get a full night sleep tonight or if Tanya was going to keep her up fussing.

Mom's words kept haunting me as I lay there, 'she is not your daughter'. It was starting to irritate me though. I knew that fact quite well thank you very much. Tanya did not have a father. At least, she did not have one that she would ever know if I had anything to say about it.

Then I started thinking about the future and college and the plans that I had been making since, well, forever. Bella and I were both very determined and decided in our goals for the future. We knew exactly what we wanted to study. But there were plenty of schools that we go to that offered both majors and plenty of large cities with more than one university. Where was it written that we would have to attend the same school to stay together, if we wanted to? Neither of us should have to compromise our dreams but a little alteration of the plans would not hurt. She and I were going to have to have a long conversation about this soon.

A/N:

I know that this may seem to be moving fast with him but when kids are involved you really have to think long term quickly to avoid the kids getting hurt. Besides college applications are going to be due soon so they really can't put off the conversation too long. Next chapter in a day or two. I want to finish the FYH update and I need to work on the story that I am writing for the Fandom for Texas Wildfire Relief compilation. It is a new story for me called 'Undeniably Yours' and only costs a donation of $5! There are a lot of authors contributing and you can find the link on my profile.


	35. Chapter 36

LL Chapter 36

Best Friends and Babysitting

Even with the long nap that I had taken earlier, exhaustion was starting taking over again. Knowing that there was no way that I was going to the answers to all of the questions and problems that I had running through my head tonight, I let the exhaustion take over and allowed myself to drift off to sleep.

I woke up a half hour before my alarm went off still dwelling on the future. I did not even know where I would start to approach the subject of what the future held for Bella and me. I mean, we have only had one fricken date and I am supposed know whether or not I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Not to mention, we are only eighteen and not even out of high school yet. We are way too young to be making these kinds major life decisions.

Who the hell was I trying to fool with that shit? We weren't exactly kids here. I hated to burst my own bubble here, but the decisions surrounding college were all major life decisions. Not to mention Bella's has been make really huge major life altering decisions for awhile now. First when she chose to have her daughter and then when she decided to keep her to be a mom to her.

I could not ignore the fact that I was in way over my head with this one. I decided that I would go to the one person that I knew would be understanding for advice. Any advice that he gave me would be logical and practical, plus he knew how to be discrete, which something that I doubt Emmett is ever going to be able to learn.

Jasper and I agreed to babysit on Wednesday while Bella and Alice went to their Judo lesson. Well, to be honest, I volunteered Jasper and I to babysit. Jasper had initially suggested that we head up to Port Angeles and surprise the girls by taking them out for Pizza after their class, but I had to nix those plans right away. While Tanya was feeling better, she was not completely healthy and Bella would have my ass if I took her out in the cold like that.

After searching the fridge and cupboards and deciding that there was absolutely nothing in the house to eat, I texted Dad to pick us up some Mexican food on his way home from the hospital in Port Angeles. While we waited for our dinner to arrive Jasper and I settled on watching Die Hard.

When I thought that Jasper was totally engrossed in the movie, I let myself get lost in my thoughts about Bella and me this week together. We had turned more than a few heads when we walked into school on Monday holding hands. I did not let go of her hand one time while we were near each other. The few times that I was able to kiss her since I dropped her off at her house on Sunday, even with my limited experience, were nothing short of perfection.

"You're doing it again," Jasper teased me with a smug smirk, "you're thinking about kissing Bella aren't you?"

"Shut up," I groaned, "it's not like I don't have to put up with the same from you. Only that is worse because it is my twin sister that you are thinking about."

Luckily my parent's chose that moment to come downstairs to leave for their dinner date. Mom suddenly seemed to believe that we were once again twelve being left home alone for first time, "I left the number for the restaurant we are going to, plus I left Sue's cell and the number for the hall where they are holding the council meeting. Do you know how to contact Charlie at work if you need to?"

"Honey, you taught the kids how to dial 9-1-1 when they were three. The boys will be just fine."

"Sorry. I know. I know. I'm shutting up now," Mom apologized as Dad started pulling her toward the door.

Jasper waited until we heard my parents' car fade down the driveway before attempting to resume our conversation, "So, what was it exactly that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Who said that I wanted to talk about anything? Maybe I just wanted to hang out with the person that has been my best friend my whole life."

"I call bullshit. Talk to me."

I proceeded to blurt out everything about the conversation Mom and I had on Sunday and how unsure I was about making a forever commitment at this point and not knowing how to approach the subject with Bella and tell her how I feel without saying the wrong thing and accidentally hurting her feelings or something.

"First of all, Edward, slow down. I am positive neither your Mom nor Bella expect you to propose tonight or anything. But rather just be thinking of getting there someday. I've known your sister my whole life, while I know that I want to marry her one day, we won't be ready for that for years."

"But what do we do about college next year?"

"I think that is where you got it right. Just by telling her that you want to be close to each other while attending college will show that you are committed to her and her daughter. It's not like you guys are going to be living together wherever you end up. You will be in the dorms while they will be in some kind of family housing or apartment."

"I guess so."

"That is a lot better than what Alice and I are looking at. Did you know that she is looking at school in Paris?"

"She didn't mention anything about that to me!"

"Yeah. She's not sure yet, but there is a great cooking school in France that she would love to attend but its damn near impossible to get into. But if she gets in she's going."

"Damn! I mean it's hard enough for _me_ to think about being that far away from Alice. Are you going to follow her?"

"Unfortunately, I can't study American Law in France. So, I'll be staying put."

Tanya decided that it was time to let us know that she was awake, hungry, and had a nasty diaper, which not only put an end to our conversation but our dinner. There were no eating refried beans after that diaper change. Jasper swore that he would never be able to eat them again.

I left him holding her while I went to make her bottle. I thought about asking him just to see him panic for a moment but Tanya was starving and wanted her supper right now. I thought it would be better to just do it myself since I knew what I was doing.

After feeding her, we placed her on the floor between us and let her play with her floor gym. That is where Alice and Bella found us when they arrived home from Port Angeles. Bella immediately made a beeline for Tanya the second that she entered the house knocking me over in the process.

Alice took off for the kitchen in search of something to eat with Jasper hot on her heels. I now understood why he was trying to spend as much time with Alice as possible. They could end up living an ocean apart in a few short months. I offered to get Bella something to eat but she declined saying she was too tired to eat and all that she really wanted was to get home to take a hot bath and go to bed.

The drive home was relatively quiet except for the baby in the back seat that was experimenting with her newly found voice. The sounds that she made were too cute. Charlie was already home by the time that we got to Bella's house. He grabbed the carrier out of her hands and took off with his granddaughter.

"HA! Now you know how it feels to be shoved to the side and ignored like your invisible," I teased her. I kissed her on the cheek and started up the stairs to put Tanya's stuff in their room.

I dropped the load on the bed and when I turned to go back downstairs I found Bella standing in the room holding the diaper bag and leaning back against the wall. I walked over to her and pulled her into my arms. I knew that we would only have a minute max before her father or daughter summoned her.

"Are you free for a date on Friday night?" 

"Yes I am. What do you have in mind?"

"I thought that we would stay in, have a little dinner, watch a movie, and maybe fill out some college applications." She looked a little surprised about the last part but smiled and agreed to it as I leaned down and kissed her on the mouth. Just as it had been for every one of our kisses as soon as it started to get to heated we both pulled back and ended things. I did not know where she stood on the subject of sex but I knew that I still had every intention of waiting. I was in no hurry to go there and I hoped like hell that she felt the same about the subject. It was another difficult topic that we were going to need to talk about soon.

A/N:

OMG! I am so sorry for the delay. If you follow me on twitter you know that I had a procedure done on my toe that was 'supposed' to be minor but I have been suffering since I had it done. I did have this chapter written out yesterday but after saving it, I went to post it and it was gone. This is not the first time my work computer has lost a file that I saved. So I had to rewrite it today. I will try to get another chapter out Friday. I still need to work on FYH. That Edward and Bella are screaming at me that they have something to say. Don't forget the fandom for Texas Wildfire compilation; the link should be on my profile. Come stalk me on twitter while I complain about doctors, brag on my son, and cheer on Chaz and Lacey on DWTS!


	36. Chapter 37

LL Chapter 37

The Date and the Talk pt 1

I was starving by the time that I arrived at Bella's house for our date. I had been too nervous today at lunch to eat much. Luckily, Bella had not been there to witness it. She had left right after Biology to take Tanya for her well baby checkup. She also insisted on cooking supper for us tonight but refused to tell me what we were having.

Seth and Sue were getting their coats on to leave when I knocked on the door. They were heading up to the reservation to pick up some girl that Seth had a date with tonight. It reminded me of how thrilled my friends and I were to final turn sixteen and did not have to rely on our parents for rides everywhere. Sue smile at me as she passed me on her way out of the door, "They are in the living room, go on in."

I nodded and continued into the house to find my two favorite girls. They were lying on their stomachs face to face. Tanya was testing her arms, trying to push her chest up off the floor, and attempting to roll over with Bella cheering her on. I dropped my bag on the couch, went to lie down next to Bella, and kissed her on the cheek, "How was her appointment?"

"It was great. She's just slightly below average in regards to her size but developmentally she's actually a little ahead of the curve."

"She's smart like her mama huh?"

"Yep!" Bella giggled getting Tanya attention again. She stopped her attempts to roll over and started cooing with her mom. Tanya looked so much like Bella, especially in moments like this. I loved that they had the same smile. I love Bella's smile. She has such a beautiful smile. I laid there staring at her until she looked over at me and started to blush, "Why are you staring at me?"

"Why wouldn't I stare at you? You are too beautiful for me not to stare at you. That makes me sound creepy doesn't it?" I asked in return causing her to blush more.

"Not creepy exactly, it's more that you are making me self-conscious."

"So Seth didn't seem all that thrilled about his date. Is it a blind date or something?"

"The date he's thrilled about. He's had a crush on Mary for ages. It's just the fact that Mary is already sixteen, has her license, and her own car but Dad and Sue have strict rules against us riding in cars with licensed drivers under seventeen. Well, mostly it is Dad's rule. He says that one year of experience is extremely important for safety. The more experience the driver has the safer he or she is bound to drive. Dad went on and on about the high rate of fatal accidents where inexperienced drivers had a car full of friends. Leah had to live with the rule and so did I. Mom agreed with him and I wasn't allowed to ride with my friends even to school. I hated it then but now..."

"But now you can see his point now though."

"Yeah. I—shit that's our dinner." A buzzer sounding from the kitchen got our attention and Bella jumped up to go check on it. Tanya started fussing immediately after Bella disappeared into the kitchen so I scooped her up and walked into the kitchen to keep Tanya as calm and happy as possible.

"That smells amazing, by the way."

"It's eggplant parmesan. You can put her in her swing if you want while I get the salad out of the fridge."

"Is there anything that I can do to help?" 

"Nope, I got it all under control. Just sit back and relax."

"Hey, where are your dad and Leah tonight?"

"Dad is working and Leah is with Sam."

"So we have the whole house to ourselves tonight."

"Yeah, I thought we could eat while we talk about college stuff."

"That sounds great to me," I agreed as Tanya let out a squeal from her swing, "and she agrees too," I said with a laugh.

Five minutes later, I was digging into one of the most spectacular meals ever. "I'm going to have to resort to begging you to cook for me more. I mean, my mom is a good cook but you are missing your calling by studying architecture."

"You are not the first to tell me that. But I prefer to cook only for people that I actually like not strangers."

"So you're saying that you like me huh?" I teased her.

"Maybe just a little bit, but not much," she teased right back.

After a few minutes of eating, Bella broke the silence, "What schools were you thinking about applying to?"

"I have a lot of places on my list in various parts of the country. How about you?"

"Same here. For the first time I am considering Seattle to be closer to my family. The two that I really want to go to are University of Southern California or Columbia. But they are really expensive."

"That's odd because they were on my list too, as well as UCLA, NYU, and Northwestern was on the list too." 

"I would have thought that you would go for schools like Dartmouth or Cornell."

"Nah, I want to be in a big city like New York or Las Angeles. Which one are you hoping for more though?"

"California. I am having trouble adjusting to the cold after living in the desert all my life. This week I've been considering adding Hawaii to my list. So you want go to Chicago huh?"

"I have some cousins that still live there. It's where my parents grew up. But, I really don't think that I would or could choose that now. I have to be honest with you here Bella, I really don't want to be that far away from you and Tanya for months on end for years while we get our degrees. I don't think that I'll be able to cope with that. I would miss you two too much. I want to be wherever the two of you will be."

She opened and shut her mouth several times before getting up and grabbing our empty plates and walking them to the sink. I jumped up and followed her. I was tempted to wrap my arms around her waist and pull her to me but I did not want to scare her. So I wrapped my arms around her shoulders instead, "Are you ok? I didn't scare you with that did I?"

"No. Not really. I am really more shocked that scared. This is all happening so fast. I thought that I was going to be alone for years, that no guy my age would want to be involved with a teen mom and here you are wanting to be with me. What shocks me most of all is that you were the poster boy for kind of guy that runs from a girl like me."

"I thought that we already covered that I was an idiot before I met you and you showed me how incredibly stupid my mindset was." 

"If I hadn't been raped and had gotten pregnant by sleeping around, would you still be here right now?"

"I don't know, Bella. Because even if I have changed my view on teen moms doesn't mean that I have changed my mind on teen sex. I know that I am not ready for that in our relationship and want to wait. And if you were a person that slept around, I don't know that we would be able to bridge that gap. That is definitely not the type of girl that would attract my attention."

"I get that. You have no idea how relieved I am that you are not ready to have sex. The whole idea terrifies me. I was talking to my therapist about it because I am scared that when I do decide to have sex it will trigger some memory or some shit from the attack."

"What did she say?"

"That no one will know for sure until it happens but it is unlikely because I was unconscious for the attack and it is not a case of repressed memories. So that gives me some hope."

"So, we have decided then, New York, California, or Hawaii as long as the three of us are together?"

"Right, the three of us, together sounds great to me."

A/N:

Ok. I have to apologize again for the delay. I somehow managed to hurt my shoulder and was put on Hydrocodone. I can see why people get addicted to it, it is some strong shit and it keeps knocking me out and making me very loopy so please forgive me in anything strange ended up in the chapter.

A reminder that I am donating an outtake for fandom for texas wildfire. You can find the link on my profile. I was going to do a one-shot called Undeniably Yours BUT that is turning into an actual chapter so I am going to write and post that separately. I have decided to do an outtake from when Bella wakes up in the hospital right after the attack. I just need to decide whether to write it from Bella or Charlie's POV. Let me know in your review if you have a preference.


	37. Chapter 38

LL Chapter 38

The Date pt 2

I was just finishing filling out my first application of the night when Tanya decided that she was no longer content sitting in her swing. She was insistent on getting our complete and undivided attention. Bella decided it was getting rather late for her and that it was time get her ready for bed. That was a more time consuming project then I would have thought it would be.

First thing that we had to do was to give her a bath, which Tanya was not happy about at all. Apparently, some days she loved getting baths and others she hated them. Today was definitely a day that she hated them given the way that she was screaming. Bella was unbelievably calm and patient with her.

Tanya stopped fussing immediately and completely just as soon as she was out of the water and wrapped in a towel. Just like Bella said would happen. She tricked me into getting Tanya dressed while she ran downstairs to make Tanya's bedtime bottle by saying that I did not know where they kept everything. How could a baby that was still immobile squirm so much making it so hard to get her pajamas on her? Did she have to kick her legs and flail her arms so much? I swear that I heard an evil little laugh coming out of that little stinker.

I was still fighting with my attempts at getting her leg into her sleeper pant when I heard a stifled giggle come from behind me, "You think this is funny? You come over here and dress the child then."

"It is funny because I have the same battle with her several times a day. I am content to pass the fight onto someone else for a change." It took another five minutes to get the pants on and then Bella took pity on me and helped me get her shirt on her.

When I went to hand Tanya to Bella, she started fussing so Bella let me rock her and feed her the bottle while she lay out on her bed. I felt bad that her daughter cried like that until Bella explain that at three months babies was starting to recognize the people around them and she's letting you know that she knows you."

"That's so cool." Tanya fell asleep before she even finished her bottle and I gently carried her over to her crib and put her down to sleep kissing on the forehead before standing up again. Bella walked over, stood next to me, and leaned down into the crib giving the baby a kiss on the cheek and running her fingers through the thick brown hair that has always reminded me so much of her own hair. They have the same beautiful, brown eyes too.

Bella turned on the baby monitor, and then she took my hand and led us out into the hall to return to the kitchen and our applications. Once we got out into the hall, I spun her around, backed her up against the wall and kissed her, "I've been looking forward to getting to do that all day."

"So have I. I happen to like kissing you," she smirked and me and took off down the stairs and I chased after her. I caught her as she reached the bottom of the stairs and kissed her again. Just because I was determined that we were going to wait to have sex did not mean that I did not think of her as sexy and desirable. I thought she was extremely sexy. Hell, I even thought that she was sexy when she wore her baggy sweats to school the other day because she was too tired from being up all night with Tanya to change into jeans. She wanted to stay home but her father had literally pushed her out of the door saying that she needed a break and could not afford to miss school.

We made our way back to the kitchen and continued to work on our applications. I pulled out my laptop and we began looking and the schools' websites and researching residence halls. The one thing that we noticed most was the cost of the housing. It was really expensive to stay on campus.

We were stuck on the website for NYU and in total shock, "Edward, this is so much more expensive than I thought it would be. This says it will be $12,000 a year just for one single person like you. I see married housing but not family which means that I will have to find a cheap apartment off campus. How am I possibly going to pay for this?" She had tears starting to glisten in her eyes.

"We'll figure something out, honey. Between scholarships and student loans we'll come up with a solution." I almost mentioned my college fund but I knew that there was no way in hell that that suggestion would go over well. Besides, my education was going to be expensive as well.

"I don't see how. This is just housing costs. There are also the costs of tuition, books, food, clothes, and daycare."

I grabbed a notebook and a pen and we started to attempt to come up with some estimates at what this was going to cost us. We were still working on it when Charlie came home from work. He found us still sitting at the kitchen table in a bit of shock. Living on campus and attending UCLA would cost me $54,000 a year. It was slightly cheaper for Bella who would have live off-campus because their family housing was for graduate students only. Nevertheless, the difference was only by about $3000. My college fund would not be able to stretch that far for the both of us.

Charlie grabbed a beer out of the fridge and came to sit with us. He managed to calm us a little when he told us that as soon as we had lived in a state for six months we were officially considered residents so the resident tuition would apply to Bella for her second year. He wasn't thrilled at all about the idea of Bella and Tanya living in an off-campus apartment alone but there wasn't much that he could do about it. It had to be hard for him. He just got his daughter back, after almost losing her permanently, and now she was planning to leave again. Now he was going to lose not only his daughter but his granddaughter too. There was no other option if she wanted to go to college. There were no schools around here until you got to Seattle, which was another option that we could explore.

I excused myself a half-hour later in a serious need of an aspirin, a hot shower, and some sleep. But, I was able to get Bella to promise to go out with me again tomorrow tonight before leaving the house. I suggested that we could stay in again and look through more college information but Charlie broke into our conversation by offering to babysit so that we could go out, have fun, and be kids.

A/N:

I know you guys are probably tired of hearing this, but I am sorry for the delay. Chapters are going to be slow coming while I am on this medicine. It makes me loopy and droopy and sleepy but without it I am in terrible pain. But I will keep working, I promise. The figures for UCLA comes from the link below. Also remember that I am writing an outtake for the wildfire thingy (link on profile). It is right after the attack on Bella. I have yet to choose whether it will be from Bella or Charlies POV. Please blame any incoherency on the drugs. They still have more to discuss about college and that will come in the next chapter.

.


	38. Chapter 39

LL Chapter 39

Midnight Chats

My brain was completely fried by the time that I got home from Bella's house. I dropped my book bag by the front door and went straight up to my room and collapsed on my bed. I did not even bother to put my pajamas on or pull the covers down.

A strange beeping noise woke me a few hours later. It took a few moments to figure out that it was my phone. Knowing that there could only be one person who would text me at one in the morning I bolted up and fished the phone out of my pocket.

Sure enough, there was a text message from Bella, "are you awake?"

I immediately texted back that I was awake and told her to call me. I did not want to call her and risk accidentally wake up Tanya with the ringtone is she was asleep. My phone rang almost immediately. I asked what she was doing up so late if Tanya had taken to sleeping more through the night.

"I had a nightmare and needed someone to talk to and you were the first person that I thought of," she said when I answered.

"Do you have these nightmares a lot?"

"I used to. The have been less frequent since I moved here, but it is still the same one. Well, one of the two that I have to endure."

"You want to tell me about it? You don't have to. We can talk about anything else."

"I have to relive the first part of the attack when _they_ busted down my bedroom door and went at me with the baseball bat. I can still hear, with clarity, every crunch the bat made as it made contact with my body. I can feel the fear and the pain. I can see the evil in their eyes. I always wake up in a cold sweat at the point that I lost consciousness that night."

"You don't know how sorry I am that you had to go through all of that."

"I changed my mind let's talk about something else."

"What did you do after I left tonight?" 

"I watched a movie with Dad until everyone else came home. Then we had a family talk about my college tuition. I am such a burden to them."

"What are you talking about? That is ridiculous!"

"Dad is intending to keep his second job, Sue is going to take on shifts at the hospital and Leah is talking about giving me the money that was set aside for her tuition. It is from the settlement from Harry getting killed in the accident. Sue started college funds for Leah and Seth."

"Whoa. First of all, your dad has a second job?"

"I had a lot of medical bills that the insurance didn't cover. So he had to take a second job to pay them all. It was only supposed to be until the bills were paid for. That is why he is gone a lot. He's not always down at the station." 

"Ok. That's news to me. What about Leah? Shouldn't she be using that money for her own tuition?"

"She's not going to college. Sam wants to open a body shop with his cousin and she is going to stay around here to be with him and help him out."

"Wow!"

"I don't want them putting themselves through so much stress just for me."

"I don't think that you are going to be able to stop them, Bella."

"I know I'm not. I can't even tell them that I don't want them to do it because then I will make myself look ungrateful for everything that they have done for me. But I feel so guilty about them working so hard and taking their hard earned money."

"You really shouldn't feel guilty. I have a college fund that my parents set up for me. They've put their hard earned money into that account for years. I am happily going to take their money and so is my sister. Jasper and Rose both have college funds too. A lot of people get help from their families, Bella. Then there are scholarships and grants. We will figure this out. I don't know how, yet. But, we will come up with something, I promise."

"I know we will, Edward. I should be more grateful that my family is so supportive of me going to college and stop being a brat."

"OH NO! Don't be a brat. Alice is enough of a brat for me to handle!"

"I'm going to tell her you said that!"

"Go ahead. I tell her that to her face all the time."

"What a lovely brother you are."

"Hey, I've been stuck with her since before we were born; I've earned the right to call her a brat."

"But it must have been nice to always have a sibling be there for you. I didn't have that until recently."

There were so many times that I simply forgot that Bella had been an only child for most of her life, "It must be strange to suddenly have so many people that you turn to for help and support, huh?"

"It's unreal. I'm obviously still getting used to the idea."

We spent the next hour talking about absolutely nothing of real consequence. We were mainly teasing each other about our preferences in music, movies, TV, and books. We talked until I heard her snoring through the phone and ended the call hoping that she would sleep soundly for the rest of the night.

When I woke up the next morning I found a new text from Bella that simply said, "Thank you." With a smile on my face I went downstairs to scrounge up some breakfast.

Alice was the only one in the kitchen when I got there. As I sat down next to her at the breakfast bar and started to pour my cereal, I nudged her with my leg, "So, I had an interesting conversation with Jasper about college."

She groaned, "I was going to tell you. I just hadn't found the right time."

"Do Mom and Dad know?"

"Dad does. Mom doesn't unless he told her."

"Huh. You know that she will be behind you completely, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"You also know I'll miss you terribly if you get to go."

"I'll miss you too. But we were bound to be separated. Jasper is considering staying in Washington and if I don't go to France, I'm following him while you go to New York, Chicago, or LA."

"Chicago is off the table. Hawaii is the third option now."

"What are you changing your mind and planning to become a professional surfer? Or a macadamia nut farmer. You'd be right at home with the nuts." Then she ate a large spoonful of cereal.

"Ha. Ha. It was on Bella's list of possible school and a lot warmer than Chicago is in January and since we are going to school together…"

In retrospect, perhaps I should have waited until she swallowed to drop that bombshell on her. She started choking on her cereal and I had to run and get her a glass of water. It took her a minute to catch her breath and answer me.

"When was this decided?"

"Last night. We were filling out our applications and researching the costs of going to college?"

"Yeah, it's insane how much it costs to go to college. I mean, it's no wonder that the American people are so far into debt."

"What on earth are you two talking about?"

"The rising costs of a college education and the undo financial stress it is putting on America's Youth."

"I sincerely hope that is not the theme of your application essay, Alice."

"Nah, I'm letting Edward use that topic. Mine centers on how my first love was my easy bake oven."

Dad entered the kitchen and joined the conversation, "Where have you two decided to apply to?"

"I've decided on NYU, UCLA, and University of Hawaii at Honolulu." The last one caused my parents to raise their eyebrows at each other and they were probably wondering where that one came from but they waited for Alice to answer.

"I'm applying to Lenotre. It is one of the best culinary arts schools in Paris."

"Paris?" Mom's eyes shot up in surprise. I guess dad had not told her.

"Yeah, it's a long shot that I get in but I really want to go."

"Wow. This makes it so real that my babies are going to be moving out soon." Mom started crying.

"Don't start crying yet, Mom. Wait until you get the tuition bills. Then you will have some thing to cry about," I told her.

Alice spoke up changing the subject asking if she could try out a new recipe on us tomorrow night. She had been too busy with school, Jasper, and work lately to be able cook for us. She even agreed to let me invite Bella over to be another guinea pig for her. I suggested that she call Rose, Jasper, and Emmett and invite them over as well. That got her all hyper and I decided that it was time for me to disappear.

I went upstairs and called Bella asking her if she wanted to start our date a little early. She literally begged me to get my butt over there and save her from having to watch the game with her father and his friends from the reservation. I was on my way in less than fifteen minutes to save my angels from the agony of spending her Saturday watching college football.

A/N:

I'm back. A three day weekend of rest and my shoulder was able to heal! Not a whole lot of new info, just some heart to hearts and setting up the next chapter. I have been working on my outtake. So far it is Charlie's POV of the aftermath of Phoenix and he has made me laugh and cry and I already have almost 2000 words down. Again, you can get that outtake by donating to the fandom for Texas wildfire and the link is on my profile. I hope to get another chapter out tomorrow. Thanks for reading!


	39. Chapter 40

LL Chapter 40

Jacob Black must die

I reached Bella's house in record time. There were so many people talking loudly and no one could hear me knocking, so I let myself in. As I turned to head toward the living room, I could hear Tanya crying and I went straight for her.

I stopped in my tracks when I found this huge Native American guy holding and attempting to calm her but she obviously did not want to be held by this guy. I walked over and started talking to Tanya. Once she heard my voice she started reaching her chubby little arms toward me and crying harder. I reached out to take the baby from the guy but he refused and turned away in an attempt to keep her from me.

"Let me have her," I demanded, "It's not good to get her so upset."

"Who are you and what the hell do you know about kids?"

Tanya's cries became shriller the longer he refused to hand her over to me, "I know plenty about babies and even more about Tanya specifically. Now please let me take her and calm her before she gets sick."

"Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"He's Bella's boyfriend." Seth spoke up as he and the chief reentered the room.

"What did you say?" Jacob demanded.

"You are not that stupid, Jacob, you heard what Seth said. Now give Tanya to Edward, sit down, and shut up."

He glared at me but handed over Tanya and she started to calm down immediately. He did not, however, obey Charlie's other order; on the contrary he looked as if he could totally lose control of his temper at any moment so I backed away from him to keep Tanya out of any danger zone.

I was just about to ask where Bella was when she ran down the stairs, "I swear, I run up for a quick shower and all hell breaks loose."

"Sorry sweetie, she was still sleeping soundly so Seth and I ran into the kitchen to refill the snacks and drinks."

"Who the hell cares if the damn kid is sleeping. You should have been down here being a mother to your kid and not leaving others to do your job."

"Jacob is it? You need to start watching your mouth because you are pissing me off." I snarled at him.

"What are you going to do about kid? I am bigger than you and I could snap you in half," then he turned to Bella, "You know that he is just using you and once you give in and he gets in you pants he will be long gone off to college and future and you will stuck here alone."

"Shut up, Jacob! You know nothing about me or our plans," Bella screamed at him.

"Then enlighten me. You think he is really going to be faithful while away from you for four years. Wake up and smell the reality of life, baby. Stop wasting time with the spoiled doctor's kid and agree to marry me. Then you can quit dumping your kid on others so that you can waste your time in school and start being a good mom."

That was the point that Seth and Charlie jumped up and went for Jacob but were too late. Bella knocked me to the side as she lunged at Jacob and punched him, breaking his nose with her fist and the using some move that she must have learned in Judo, she kicked his leg out from under him and knocked him to the ground. She straddled his back with his arms twisted up as he howled in pain, "Again, you know nothing about me you Neanderthal son of a bitch. Edward is not going to leave me behind. We are making plans to go to college together." She put both of his big fat wrists in one of her tiny hands and pulled up on them making him scream louder. Then she grabbed a chunk of his hair with her free hand and yanked his head off the floor, "No one is ever going to get the better of me again, asshole. One more thing, I ever catch you near my daughter, I will kick your ass again. You understand me?"

"Yes."

"Good." Then she released him and went to stand. She took my offered free hand and I pulled her up and into my arms.

"You are not really going to allow this are you," he asked turning to Charlie.

"I am not only allowing it, I am encouraging it. I like Edward. He's a good kid." Then Charlie told us that it might be better to work upstairs. It would be quieter and we could devote more attention to our applications and essays. We detoured to the kitchen to get a bottle for Tanya and some ice for Bella's hand. We had barely made into the kitchen before we heard the front door slam and a car peel away.

Charlie walked into the kitchen laughing his ass off. He came over to where Bella and I were standing and checked on Bella's hand himself. Then he placed the ice that I handed him on her knuckles and looked her in the eye, "You did good, little girl. I am proud of you." This simple statement made Bella beam with pride. It was always amazing to see how strong she really was. "I am going to talk to Billy about Jacob. He may be nineteen but he will listen and back off if his father tells him to."

"Thanks Daddy." He kissed her on the forehead and patted me on the shoulder as he turned around to return to the living room and his game.

Since Bella and I each had only one free hand, Charlie sent Seth in to help us carry everything that we would need, upstairs to Bella's room. I settled into the rocking chair in the corner of the room to feed Tanya while Bella took a minute to rest and ice her hand. We sat in a comfortable silence until I was done feeding Tanya and I put her down on her blanket on the floor and joined Bella on the bed.

"I shouldn't have let him get to me like that."

"Bella, we were all about to start beating on him. You just got there first. I know from personal experience how fierce your right hook is but look at you, after only two Judo classes you were able to take a guy twice your size down and make him cry like a little sissy."

"You know, I really am sorry about hitting you. Hitting Jacob? I'd do again in a heart beat." The fierce look on her face got me laughing at her.

"I'm serious, Edward! I've begged my dad repeatedly if we can tie Jacob up and use him for target practice. As for taking him down, that's easy. You just have to distract your aggressor with pain and it's a piece of cake to take them down and be in control."

"Why does your dad invite the guy into his house?"

"Billy, Jacob's father, is one of Dad's closest friends. He keeps his mouth shut for the sake of his friendship unless Jacob goes too far, like he did today. Then there is the problem that Jacob is the cousin that Sam is going into business with so there is Leah and Sam's feelings to consider."

"I'm sure if Leah found out what he said to you today she'd stage on of her rabid attacks on him."

"I know she will and so does he. He will try to avoid seeing either Sam or Leah for a while to avoid another beat down. I just don't think that he even considered the fact that I might actually be able to defend myself against him."

"He must be an absolute imbecile if he thought you were going to fall for the shit that he was spewing from his mouth."

"I know!" Bella laughed and then she reached over me to grab a stack of papers off the nightstand and I took the opportunity to steal a quick kiss.

We had been working for about an hour, writing, proofreading, editing our essays, and laughing at Tanya who was on her stomach cooing at the stuffed dog that I had given her. We were currently proofreading each other's essays and offering corrections and suggestions when Charlie came upstairs and went into his bedroom. I started to move, as I did not want to get caught in our current position, which was lying side by side on the bed on our stomachs. But Bella grabbed my hand to stop me and pointed out a sentence that she felt could be worded a little better. If anyone else had said to me that my sentence was sloppy I would have snapped at them, but since it was Bella, I just listened to her and fixed the problem.

Charlie popped his head into the room to see if we needed anything because he would gladly send Seth up with it. When we declined he quickly continued on his way back to his game. It did not escape our attention that everyone downstairs was taking turns running upstairs to use the bathroom. It was really amazing because the bathroom breaks would come at precise half hour intervals. By the third one, Bella and I had our eyes trained on my watch and sure enough here came someone up the stairs. This time, according to Bella, it was Quil. Bella and I laughed as she yelled hi to the boy as he glanced into the room as he passed. But the spies continued to run their recon mission for the remainder of the afternoon.

We managed to finish all of our applications by the time suppertime came around. The football party was still in full swing in the living room so Bella and I decided to eating a quick meal of leftovers from last night rather than attempt to steal some pizza from the teenage boys and their fathers in the living room. Bella and I went back to work finalizing our essays. We were lucky enough to be able to reuse our essays with minor alterations on the other applications. We had both decided to apply to all five schools on our lists.

Once we decided that we were done and not going to risk over editing our essays Bella went over to her desk and pulled out a stack of envelopes and a book of stamps.

"We should get these in the mail right away before we panic and try to edit them again."

"Yeah, should we go now?"

"Let me take Tanya downstairs and see if Dad will watch her."

Within ten minutes we were outside of the Forks Post Office, standing there just staring at the mailbox. With a deep breath I took Bella's hand in mine, stepped forward, and open the mouth of that massive, blue, cavernous metal prison built to hold mail hostage from its rightful owners. I placed my five envelopes on the metal door and turned to allow Bella to place hers on top of mine. The second she pulled her hand back I slammed the door shut before either of us could change our minds and grab our envelopes back. We were both control freaks who were reluctant to relinquish control of our futures to anyone else. But that is where we stood now as we stood there staring at that mailbox again. We had just put our futures in the hands of the admissions departments of our chosen school. Now all we could do was sit back and wait for them to pass judgment on us.

A/N:

Charlie might like Edward and trust him but he's not stupid enough to put two teenagers in a bed room alone for hours without checking on them. He is just not as sneaky as he thinks he is.

I hate the character of Jacob. Always have and always will. 'Nuff said.

You know about the Texas compilation that I am donating an outtake for, I am currently at 3000 words and not done yet. It has all been in Charlie's POV. I will include a teaser of the outtake with any review that I receive for this chapter.


	40. Chapter 41

LL Chapter 41

Sightings of Evil

After standing there in the freezing cold for a whole ten minutes staring at that mailbox and freezing our butts off and like idiots, Bella looked up at me, "I really need some hot cocoa now." She promise that if I took her back to her house she would make me the best hot cocoa that I had ever had that was guaranteed to send me into sugar shock. We turned and walked back to the car knowing that there was nothing more that we could do except for waiting for the letters to come in March.

When we got back to Bella's house, we found that all of Charlie's guests had left and he was coming down the stairs carrying the baby monitor. After telling Bella that her daughter had been bathed and was currently snuggled in and sound asleep in her bed we went into the kitchen while Charlie returned to the living room to watch more TV. Bella was right about her hot cocoa being sugar overload. She started with chocolate milk, and then she added Ghirardelli hot cocoa mix, then chocolate syrup before mixing it and popping it into the microwave. "Never tell my mom or sister this, but I have to agree that this is the best hot cocoa that I have ever had. Where did you learn to make it like this?"

"My mom taught me to make it this way."

"You mom made hot chocolate when living in the desert?"

"_Yes_! You know desert nights can get quite cold in the winter." I decided to just take her word for it.

After we finished our drinks, I reluctantly decided that it was probably time for me to head home. After a couple of stolen kisses in the kitchen, I yelled bye to Charlie on my way out of the front door and was on my way. Halfway home, I passed the Stanley home. I was surprised not only to see Jessica getting out of her mother's car but that there was now a for sale sign on the lawn. Shit! If she was out of rehab, then that would mean that she would be returning to school soon. This was not good news and I was not happy about that at all. Now I had to worry about Jessica trying to hurt my Bella and my sister again. Why couldn't she have just stayed away?

When I got home, Alice and Dad were just getting home from the store. She had need to drag Dad with her as the recipe that she was using called for white wine and dark rum, and she was not old enough to buy it herself. After helping them carry everything into the kitchen, I wisely left my sister alone to organize everything and went up to my room. I turned on my iPod and crashed on my bed with my copy of "It" by Stephen King and started to read for fun. I have to say this book had me scared to death of sewers and drains for about six months after the first time that I read it. Of course, I was only eleven years old at the time.

The next afternoon while I was waiting for Bella to arrive, Alice put me to work chopping the vegetables that she would need for various parts of the dinner. The main difference between helping Alice versus helping Mom is that Alice gets pissy if everything isn't cut perfectly. She is always yelling at us that the presentation is just as important as the taste is.

Rose brought Bella and Tanya with her after their group meeting at the church was over. Neither one looked too happy when they arrived. It turned out that Angela had informed them that Jessica had come home and would be back in school on Monday while they were at the church. I could tell that Bella was nervous and apprehensive about facing Jessica again. I could not blame her really, the last time that she was face to face with Jessica she ended up with a sprained wrist.

Alice's dinner was absolutely spectacular and I was going to miss her cooking next year when we were separated for college. As I sat, looking around the table at everyone it hit me that in just a few months, I was going to be moving out of my parents home. I was going to be on my own hundreds even thousands of miles away from my family and friends. Our days of getting together like this were numbered. Next year it was going to be just me, Bella, and Tanya all on our own while the rest of our friends were spread out across the world. At least Bella and I will have each other.

After dinner, we settled in the living room to play video games and to take turns entertaining a certain little angel. She definitely had a way of getting everyone's attention focused solely on her. She had us all wrapped around her little finger and I didn't see that ever changing. Personally, I think it is her smile. She has her mother's beautiful, radiant smile.

Somehow, we ended up on the subject of Thanksgiving, which was coming up in about a week and a half. The Hales always came over for dinner as none of them could cook anything more complicated than a cold sandwich. I started doing an internal happy dance when Dad informed us that he had talked to Sue yesterday, and he had invited her and her whole family over to join us for the holiday. Emmett was going to make his usual trip to see Grandma McCarty in Kentucky.

Mom and Alice took Bella up on her offer to come over the day before and help cook and do prep. Alice took it upon herself to volunteer me to watch the baby while they were busy in the kitchen. It wasn't like I wouldn't have done it anyway. It was going to be Tanya's first Thanksgiving and I was stoked to get to be a part of it. Insert second internal happy dance here. Maybe Alice is right and I am a dork.

At nine, Mom and Dad told us that it was time to call it a night since we all had school in the morning. I hated the idea that I was not going to get to drive Bella home but there was no good reason why Rose couldn't drop them home, so I reluctantly let them go. I did, however, send her a text message as soon as I got to my room telling her that I was sorry that I did not get to give either of them a good night kiss. I promised to make it up to her tomorrow when I drove them up to Port Angeles. Bella had her appointment with her therapist and she wanted to take Tanya to see the NICU nurses. I was going to watch Tanya during her appointment and then we would go to the NICU together.

A/N:

Ok. First things first. To the reader that I told I was going to update last night I apologize for being delayed but my son wanted to spend time with me.

Ok. I am going to try to get another chapter out before I leave town next week but I can't promise. I have dress rehearsal and my son's concert on Sunday, son's quartet rehearsal on Monday (which he loves because they are playing Viva la Vida by Coldplay), and his violin lesson on Tuesday and we leave on Wednesday. Oh the joys of having a musician for a child.

There will be minor time jumps coming up here and there. It will be nothing too major just a couple of weeks at a time. For clarification, it is now Nov. 13th and Tanya was born on August 10th.

Finally, you all know about the Texas compilation that I am writing for. The out take is currently sitting at around 5k words and I have not finished it yet! As always you can find me on Twitter as branson101.


	41. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Facing Off

I can say that I believe that the biggest mistake that I made today was getting out of bed in the first place. This crappy day started off bad and just kept delving further into the realm of Hell. It started when my alarm did not go off and I overslept by a half hour. This meant that I had to choose between taking a shower and eating breakfast. It should go without saying that I chose to skip breakfast. There was no way that I was going to be near Bella all day without having taken a shower.

I was still running late by the time that I got out of the house because Mom started arguing that I had not eaten breakfast. When I finally got to Bella's things didn't go much better. Bella was running late herself because she woke up to find that Tanya's diaper had leaked all over the crib and created a hell of a mess. Her words not mine. She was still running around trying to get ready while I sat down at the table in kitchen to wait. Sue came out of the laundry room and handed me and cereal bar and a bottle of juice, "Esme called and told me that you didn't eat breakfast and asked if I would make sure that you got something." I sighed and ate the cereal bar because I knew that Sue would be calling Mom as soon as I left.

We ended up being twenty minutes late getting to school and we had to go to the office to get a tardy slip and a lecture about being on time. It was not like we made a habit of being late. It just made us more irritated and later for class than we already were.

My mood had improved a little bit by the time that I got to biology and was able to see Bella again. Except, her mood had gotten worse and not better, but she refused to tell me what was bothering her. After biology, we walked to calculus together and I found out what had Bella in such a bad mood. With the disaster that this morning had been, I had totally forgotten that Jessica was returning to school today. If I found out that she had said anything to upset Bella, Jessica was going to have some major problems.

But the strangest thing was that Jessica didn't say anything to anyone, even though half the class was pointing at her, whispering quite loudly, and giggling. They were obviously talking about her because they weren't even attempting to be quiet, but she just kept her head down and her mouth shut. I had never seen Jessica like this. But, Hell, if it wasn't funny to see how far she had fallen. I couldn't wait to fill Leah in on these details.

When we got to our lunch table, we found Jessica was sitting by herself at the same corner table that Bella sat at when she first came here. Here, with no adult supervision, the pointing and laughing and the taunts about her father and rehab became very vocal. People were yelling nasty things at her about her rehab and worse her father and Lauren.

In retrospect, I should have noticed that Bella was getting angrier as the taunting went on and the rest of us at the table started laughing at Jessica but I was too busy enjoying Jessica getting what she gave for years. It wasn't until Jessica ran from the cafeteria in tears and the room started cheering, and Bella jumped up that I noticed just how upset and angry Bella was. I grabbed Bella's arm, "What's wrong? Where are you going?"

"I would think that of all people, you guys would understand. You all know about my past by now. It wasn't that long at ago that that was me," she point at the door that Jessica had run out of. Now my Bella had tears in her eyes, "I had to endure the same taunting, and laughing, and the nasty name calling, every fucking day in Phoenix. It wasn't right and it's not fair and it wasn't my fault! Just like me, Jessica is alone and she needs a friend and I'm going to go find her." And then she took off in the direction the Jessica had run while we sat there stunned. This is what had been bothering her all day. It wasn't Jessica was back. It was that she was watching her past being played out in front of her at the expense of someone else.

The rest of us sat in silence for the rest of lunch, I had no idea what the others were thinking but I was conflicted. Bella didn't know the pain that Jessica had caused us over the years. What she was seeing was tainted by her past. I looked over at Alice to see her with her head down on her arms and Jasper rubbing her back and whispering in her ear. There was a time that Jessica was like a sister to the two of us. I just wasn't that easy to forgive someone that hurt you and your loved one so bad.

At the end of the day, I ran to meet Bella outside her last class before she could change her mind about me driving her to Port Angeles. I took her hand the second she walked out of the classroom and said that I was sorry. I knew that we would talk more on the drive.

When we reach the parking lot Bella transferred Tanya's car seat to my car while I had a quick word with Sue. It didn't take long before we were on our way. I apologized again for hurting Bella's feeling. It was never my intention, I just never thought about the two situations being similar before. She said that the causes may be completely different but the results were the same.

"Edward, it was a daily occurrence for me to go running out of a classroom or the cafeteria in tears. It just got a lot worse when I started to show."

"Why did you keep going back? Where the hell did you find the strength to do it?"

"I wasn't going to let them win. Any of them. Leaving the school would be like admitting that they were right and I wasn't going to let that happen."

"I don't know that I can forgive her. Not unless she really shows that she is sorry for the way that she treated you and Alice."

"You don't have to forgive her or be her friend Edward; just don't be her enemy or one of her tormentors."

"I am sorry that I upset you and I will try to never behave that way again."

"Try to?"

"Yeah, I still don't trust her. I can't trust her after knowing her for so long and knowing what she is capable of."

She accepted that reasoning and we spent the rest of the ride in silence except for Bella flipping through my Ipod looking for songs that she liked and laughing at some of the strange one that I had on there.

This time, I went up to Bella's appointment with her and sat in the waiting room with Tanya. At one point, I had to get up and take Tanya to the bathroom to change her diaper and when I returned, I found Jessica standing at the reception desk. Could this day get any worse?

A/N:

Anyone see that coming or did I manage to surprise you?

This is it for this week. Like I said, I am going away for a long weekend starting on Wednesday and I have yet to pack.

I did manage to finish the Charlie outtake for the Texas Wildfire Compilation. I sent it off to a beta this morning and as it stood this morning, it was at 5600 words!

I'll see you when I get back from the lake!


	42. Chapter 43

LL Chapter 43

Facing the past

I tightened my grip on Tanya as I walked past the reception desk and returned to my seat. The whole waiting room was empty but Jessica just had to walk in our direction and sit in the chair directly across from me. I did my best to just ignore the fact that she was sitting there, but she made it impossible with the amount of fidgeting and squirming that she was doing. It reminded me of the when we were five and I would get stuck in the back seat of the car between her and Alice and neither one of them could sit still. I was just hoping that she would just leave us alone and not cause any trouble.

"She's grown a lot since that time that I saw her in the diner." Crap. So much for being left in peace.

"You mean the time when you and your best friend were verbally attacking her mother?"

I watched as Jessica flinched and then sagged in her seat, "I deserve that. I regret so many things, Edward. I did so many things that I am ashamed of that I don't even know where to start apologizing to people and making amends. I really don't think that most would believe me to be sincere or want to forgive me."

"You can count me in the number of those who don't trust you. Why did you even come back here?"

"I have to face my demons. And I really want to graduate with everyone that I have gone to school with since kindergarten. Even if everyone hates me and doesn't want me here, I want to be here. I have a right to be here."

She did have the right to be here and finish high school. I could not argue that with her on that, but like I said, there was no way that I was going to trust her not to hurt Bella and Alice again. I really didn't have a good response that would not have been mean and hurtful and bordering on spiteful, so I decided to just keep my mouth shut so that I would not end up breaking my promise to Bella.

"She's a good baby. She looks so happy and loved," Jessica sighed, "Do you babysit often?"

"Bella is an amazing mother and I think that Charlie spoils her more than any of them. I don't babysit too often, mostly on Wednesday's when Bella and Alice have Judo. Bella prefers to be with her daughter when she is not in school or seeing her doctors. More often than not, we stay in and include Tanya on our dates."

"_Oh my God_! I assumed that Alice had befriended her and you were merely being nice to her. But you're dating her? I leave to go to rehab for one little month and Edward Cullen gets a girlfriend. The whole space/time continuum must have collapsed while I was gone."

I couldn't help but laugh at her comment and remember all the afternoons that the three of us would watch the Back to the Future trilogy. We watched so much that at one point when we were ten, mom removed it from the player and through it out the front door. However, that was years ago, back when we were naïve children, ignorant to the ways that the world would destroy our innocence and would tear best friends apart.

Jessica moved over to sit in the chair next to mine and sighed, closing her eyes, "I miss those days so much. Where the only thing that we had to worry about was what movie we should watch or should we swim in the pool or play in the sprinkler."

"There have been some great things about growing up too."

She snorted, "Not in my life there hasn't. Things started going downhill for me way before I got tangled up with Lauren. Or didn't you notice that I was at your house more often and never wanted to go home?"

"I guess I never noticed that." She just nodded and stared at the floor.

Bella walked out of the doctor's office at that moment and walked over and took Tanya from my arms. I stood up and grabbed the diaper bag and carrier off of the chair, kissed Bella on the temple, and we said our goodbyes to Jessica.

We walked to the NICU hand in hand but in absolute silence. Bella was always quiet after therapy while she processed whatever it was that they talked about and I was still thinking about the things that Jessica had said. She hadn't actually apologized to me or anything. But there wasn't anything really for her to apologize for. Yes, I had a crush on her once upon a time and she ran off to destroy her life. It wasn't like she knew that I liked her or anything and I stopped feeling that way about her when I heard that she was sleeping around and getting high. That was also about the time that I decided that small town girls were nothing but trouble.

When we reached the NICU we went right in. They were taking the opportunity of the quiet time to do some remodeling and upgrading of equipment. The nurses gushed over Tanya and how adorable she was. They literally snatched the baby out of Bella's arms and played a strange game of pass along with her. It was always a great pleasure for them to see a baby that they cared for continue to flourish and grow.

I wandered over to my favorite rocker that was now pushed up against the wall and sat down. Mary, one of the nurses, followed me and leaned back against the wall, "So, I guess that 'its only group thing' worked out well for you?"

"Yeah, it did. It got me an actual date with her."

"And where did you take the young lady? And did you include her daughter? That's important you know."

"You such a gossip!"

"Just answer the question before I have to call your father and tell him that you are being rude to your elders."

"I'm not being rude."

"Yes, you are. I am your elder and I asked you a question and you are ignoring it. Where I come from that is being rude to your elders."

I sighed and told her about the ball, how I did manage to include Tanya at the end of the date, and how we took care of a sick Tanya all night. She patted me on the back and told me that I did well and she was happy to see Bella happy as well. After about forty five minutes of socializing and hearing all about the remodeling plans, they finally gave Tanya back to us and we were able to leave. As we walked back to where I had parked the car we saw Jessica walking out as well. She was not far away from us and as I watched Jessica fumbling to get into her mother's car, I noticed that her eyes were red and puffy and that she was crying.

A/N:

Happy Halloween! I made it home last night. I had a great time at the lake. I may have even threatened to chain myself to the porch and refuse to come home.

I manage to do a final edit of the outtake for Texas wildfires and submit it. It ended up being just over 5500 words and I am quite happy with it. I hope that if you are getting the compilation you like it too!

I am tempted to write a Bella out take now, but we'll see. There is a chapter and an outtake for FYH that I have to write too!


	43. Chapter 44

LL Chapter 44

Being neighborly

It is amazing how fast time can fly and you don't even realize that it is happening. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was picking Bella up for out first date and today was the day before Thanksgiving. Jasper and I were on our way to pick up Tanya from Sue. The two of us had volunteered to be her Wednesday night sitters since Sue had her council meeting and Charlie was working at his second job.

I had thought that he was merely working a lot of extra hours at the station but Bella told me that he had needed to take on a second job to pay off Bella's medical bills. I guess there was a lot left to pay after the insurance paid their part. He had taken on a part time job as a security guard in Port Angeles. I totally respected the shit out the man for all the sacrifices and unconditional love and support he had shown Bella through all of this crap.

I know that she feels guilty that he is working so much, but there wasn't much that could be done about it. Bella could not get a job herself right now. Bella said she had discussed the option with my dad during one of her appointments; he was concerned that a job added to her school responsibilities and Tanya might be too much stress on her and hinder emotional and physical recovery.

I made Jasper come with me to pick up Tanya, instead of driving his own car, because I knew I was going need help carrying all of their bags. Bella had agreed to help Mom and Alice cook the Thanksgiving dinner so my angels were going to spend the night in the guest room again. Mom and Bella thought that this was the better option so Bella wouldn't have to wake Tanya early in the morning and drag her out in the cold. Did they think that I was actually going to object?

While the girls were cooking tomorrow, I was going to be in charge of watching Tanya so that Bella did not have to worry about her. I was planning to introduce her to the wonder that is the Macy's parade and then continue Charlie's efforts to get her hooked on the NFL. Besides, by the time that the games came on, all of the guys should be here to back me up.

Mom called my phone as I was loading the bags into the car and asked me to stop at the store for a few last minute items. We were stuck in the frozen foods section while I was trying to choose between four brands of frozen peas. Jasper was absolutely no help. He was too busy making faces at Tanya and making her laugh at him.

"Dude, this is fun! How old is she?"

"She'll be four months old on December 1st."

"Who knew babies could be this much fun. She's a lot more fun now than she used to be."

I glared at him until he shrugged and went back to playing with Tanya while I turned back to my pea dilemma. I was just about to call mom and demand to know which brand to get when I saw Jessica at the other end of the aisle. I finally decided that it didn't matter which damn brand of peas that I bought because peas were peas, damn it. So, I threw a bag into the cart and went to the next thing on my list. I turned around and left the aisle the way in order to avoid Jessica.

I found the vegetable area and had to search for the potatoes. Once I found the choice I discovered that I had to choose between red, russet, new, and Yukon Gold. Why the fuck did the world need four different types of potatoes. I swear I was about to cry when I heard someone behind me, "Alice would prefer to use Yukon Gold. She always said they had the best flavor."

I turned to find Jessica behind me, "What?"

"The potatoes. I'm sorry. I thought you were trying to figure out which ones to get. I'll, uh, leave you guys alone now."

"Thanks Jessica. Mom asked me to stop and only gave me a generic list." And then I noticed what she had in her cart. Two banquet turkey TV dinners, a pack of generic Kool-Aid, and one apple and a small container of caramel sauce. I knew that her father was out of work since his arrest, and her mother only worked part time but it didn't dawn on me that they would be having serious money issues. Shit! This must be their Thanksgiving dinner.

She was just starting to walk away, when I grabbed her arm to stop her, "Hey, we're having a bunch of people over for dinner tomorrow, why don't you and your mom join us?"

"I don't think that is a good idea."

"Come on. Bella and her family will be there. So will this idiot. Bella will be happy you came."

"What about Alice? She won't like it."

"Let me handle that. Please come to dinner."

"Ok. I will. Thank you, Edward."

"No problem." And then she walked away.

"I see a big problem. Your sister is going to kill you."

"I know."

"Maybe you should hold the baby while you tell her. She would never risk hurting Tanya while trying to beat you to a pulp."

I just smacked him upside the back of the head, "You're spending way too much time with Emmett." And then I grabbed the Yukon Gold's, turned the cart around, and took off to finish my shopping.

I was really nervous by the time that Alice and Bella arrived home. Mom and Dad were proud of me and told me that I did the right thing by inviting Jessica and her Mom. While I didn't use Tanya as a buffer, I did use Bella as a human shield as Alice attempted to get to me. She calmed down a little when I told her about the TV dinners in the cart and how I was sure that they were going to share one apple for dessert.

"She starts any shit with me tomorrow and I will beat you."

"I am trying really hard not to be the asshole that I used to be here. Bella asked me to be nice to her and I'm just trying to do that; and anyway I really don't think she will start any trouble."

"She excels at starting trouble, Edward." 

"Trust me on this, please. Besides she helped me pick out the potatoes. She remembered which ones was your favorite." She open and shut her mouth a couple times. And then without a word, she turned stomped into the kitchen with Jasper on her heels.

A/N:

Happy Friday! Next chapter will probably be on Monday. Have a great weekend!


	44. Chapter 45

LL Chapter 45

I didn't mean to see that

I could hear Alice slamming things around in the kitchen. I knew that Alice was going to be angry with me; I just didn't think that she would get _that_ angry. Jasper had taken off into the after her and I just hoped that he would be able to calm her down before he left or I was going to barricade my bedroom door tonight.

I collapsed on the couch, leaned back, and closed my eyes. It was a matter of seconds before I felt Bella sit down beside me and curl into my side. I put my arm around her and just enjoyed the peace, quiet, and comfort of her being there for a minute. That is until Tanya demanded that I remember that she was there by grabbing at my face. I snatched Tanya out of Bella's arms and moved to the floor. Bella followed us and together the three of us lay on the floor and played. Well, the word 'play' is a bit of a stretch. Bella and I were lying there encourage Tanya to roll over. She was awfully close to doing in.

Then Jasper and Alice walked in and commented that it sounded like we were talking to a puppy not a baby. Alice smacked his shoulder and told him to leave Bella alone. Not me. Just Bella. That was sign number one that she was still angry with me. Sign number two that she was still angry with me was the glares that she was still giving me.

Alice walked over to the TV and popped in a DVD. I automatically groaned and she kicked me. Fortunately, Mom and Dad walked into the living room, saw her do it, and admonished her for it. Alice stuck her tongue out at me and started the movie. I was actually thrilled to find out that we were going to watch Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. This is one of my all time favorite holiday shows. I have always loved the fight that Snoopy gets into with the lawn chair. That was so epic.

We all lounged around the living room enjoying watching the show together. It was strangely comfortable as if the seven of us was really one family already. I could easily see us doing this on holidays for years to come. When the show was over, I helped Bella up off the floor since she had a sleeping Tanya in her arms and said, "That ending is just gross."

"What do you mean?" Alice asked her.

"Well, the bird is eating bird. That's cannibalism. And talking about that feast, if Snoopy had all that cooking why didn't he offer to share with Charlie and his friends? Why did he help serve the guests toast and popcorn?"

Alice walked out of living room laughing as timer indicating that her pie was done went off.

"I never thought of it that way?" Jasper said looking intrigued. "Got anymore insightful observations about any other holiday shows?"

"Oh, I have lots of examples. All these shows were made in the sixties and seventies and I am convinced that the filmmakers were high on lots of stuff. But, tonight I have to get this little girl in her bed. I am so thankful that you gave her a bath, Edward, thank you. And thank you too, Esme, for helping him. I really appreciate it."

"I'm sure he would have been able to do it on his own. I just didn't want to have to mop a lake up off my kitchen floor."

I waited until Bella had disappeared up the stairs before saying my goodnights and following her up the stairs. I was tempted to go to her room and get her to give me a goodnight kiss but I didn't want to risk waking Tanya. So, I resigned myself to go straight to my room and taking a hot shower.

When I got out of the shower and walked out of my bathroom only to find Bella lying on my bed flipping through a college brochure. "SHIT!" I yelled and grabbed the first thing that I could get my hands on to cover myself, which happened to be a baseball cap.

"I'm so sorry! I never thought you'd…I guess I didn't think….I better go." She jumped up, blushing furiously, ran for the door, and she bolted from my room without turning to look at me.

I sat down on my bed angry about my habit of walking out of my bathroom completely naked. It had never been an issue before. I only sat there for a minute when I looked up and saw that she had left the baby monitor behind in her haste to get away from me. It gave me the excuse that I needed to go to her room and get her to open the door so that I could see for myself that she was all right. There was nothing coming through on the baby monitor.

I threw some pajama pants and a t-shirt and took off for the guest room. I knocked three times with no answer from her. I was about to go get mom or Alice and have one of them check on her when I decided to give it one last try, "Please open up! I have the baby monitor."

She finally cracked the door open and the first thing that I could see was that she was still blushing.

"Bella please let me in. I feel so bad. I didn't mean to scare or upset you. Are you OK? Should I get Mom?"

She opened the door and let me, "I'm fine. You didn't…I mean it was my fault for barging into your room uninvited."

I took her hand, pulled us to the bed and sat us both down, "Honey, you always have an open invitation to come into my room whenever you want. I shouldn't have been walking around naked like that. I really didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't scare me. I was just really embarrassed."

"There is really nothing to be embarrassed about. I am hoping that one day in the future, when we are both ready, we will both get to see each naked all the time." This got her blushing again but she didn't say anything. "Did you need something? I mean did you come to me room because you needed something?"

"I just wanted a chance to say goodnight in private. So…uh…goodnight," and she reached over and pecked me on the cheek.

I grabbed her face and gave her a deep kiss before I got off the bed, "Goodnight Sweetheart!"

I returned to my room and collapsed on my bed falling asleep immediately. The next thing that I knew I was hearing a baby crying. It sounded like it was on TV or something but when I opened my eyes; the room was dark except for a little red light on my dresser. It took a minute to realize that Bella must have put the baby monitor in my room like we had agreed upon. My alarm clock said that it was only half past seven. Fuck. I groaned as I dragged my ass out of bed to go get Tanya. Why the hell did she have to get up so early. Didn't Tanya realize that it was a holiday we were supposed to be sleeping in?

A/N:

Happy Tuesday! Work has gotten busy and there is no relief coming at all. So I will have to start writing in the evenings. I am still aiming for my two posts a week. The next update should be Friday since I don't have to work because it is Veteran's Day and the bank observes. It will be Thanksgiving.

The Texas compilations started going out tonight. If you couldn't donate, I will be posting the outtake as soon as I am allowed to!

Bella and Edward's observations about Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving are really how I feel. It really grosses me out when the bird starts eating the bird! EW!


	45. Chapter 46

LL Chapter 46

Happy Thanksgiving! Pt 1

After I got Tanya cleaned up, I took her down stairs to see about a bottle for her breakfast. I found my three favorite ladies laughing over their cooking. Well, Mom and Alice were laughing. Bella was trying to laugh but she was crying too hard from the onions that she was chopping. I stood in the doorway until Tanya saw her mom and let out a soft cry. Bella looked up from her onions with a big smile on her face.

Since Bella was not in a position to hold Tanya, I handed her to a surprised Alice while I made her bottle. "So, when does she get to start eating baby food?" Alice asked Bella.

"The doctor said maybe in another month or two. She's not ready yet."

"Tell me when. I want to try some organic baby food recipes that I found online."

I couldn't help but laugh at my sister as I took Tanya back and we left the kitchen. She would take any excuse she could get to take over the kitchen. By the time that Tanya had finished her bottle, Dad was back from his annual trip to the doughnut shop in Port Angeles. It was the only way that him and I were going to get anything to eat until dinner was ready, which wouldn't be until at least three.

At nine, the doorbell rang. I was surprised to find Jessica there, "Sorry I'm so early, but I thought that maybe I could be of help with cooking the dinner or something."

"It's fine Jessica. Come on in. I am sure that they could use some help. If not, you can help me keep this little angel entertained."

I walked her to the kitchen, even though I know that she knew exactly where she was going. I was not about to send her into the lion's den alone. As we passed through the living room, she commented that we had redecorated since the last time she was here. I warned her not to mention the new carpet to mom as it was still a sore spot with Mom that she had to replace it recently. Jessica just nodded but did not say anything else about the décor.

When we entered the kitchen Mom walked right up to Jessica and pulled her into a big hug, "We've missed you around here. Where is your mother, dear?"

"Oh, Mrs. Cullen. I've missed you all so much too. Mom didn't feel very well today. She's very sorry that she couldn't come."

Alice slamming a pan down got everyone's attention. Jessica looked like she was about to bolt from the house at any second. Ignoring Alice, Mom grabbed Jessica's hand and led her to the table where Bella was sitting behind a mountain of bread. She handed her an apron and set her to helping Bella tear up the bread for the stuffing. I returned to the living room to watch the big parade. My biggest goal, at the moment, was to just stay out of the line of fire for a little while.

I decided to lie down on the floor with Tanya on her stomach on my chest. She was so cute to watch. I think that I was watching her more than I was the parade. Although I did try my best to get her interested in the cooler balloons, like Snoopy and Kermit and telling her that the big yellow sponge thing was not worth our time. In between my favorite balloons, I was watching her lifting her head up off my chest and kicking her little arms and legs. It looked like she was trying to swim on my chest. I had no clue about how babies developed, or at what ages they did certain things, but I knew that it was only a matter of time before she was able to sit up by herself.

The next thing I knew I was hearing giggles. I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, I found Bella, Charlie, and Seth standing over me with very amused looks on their faces. Tanya was asleep was now tucked into the crook of my arm.

"How long have you people been watching me?"

"Long enough to get a good number of pictures of the two of you on our cell phones, Your mom has demanded that we send her copies so that she can make prints." Bella answered cheekily.

I groaned."I need a soda but I don't think that I can get up right now."

"I'll get it for you. You probably shouldn't go near your sister at the moment anyway."

I groaned again, "Anything bad happen in there."

"Not at all. Jessica hasn't said much to anyone. She is just doing whatever she asked to, but Alice is actually refusing to acknowledge that she is even in the room except when she decides to glare at her. I hate to speak ill of a host, but she's being a bit rude."

"I don't blame her, Bells. I seriously can't see why you would entertain the notion of being nice to her. I know what you said, but your situations are completely different. She made her choices to go down the path of drugs. She made her bed and she needs to lie in it. Not to mention that I don't trust her not to hurt you again," Charlie complained.

"Everyone deserves a second chance, Dad. If she screws that up then we'll talk."

She left to the kitchen only to return a minute later with a can of soda with a straw in it. She took a seat on the floor next to me so that Tanya was between us.

"Are you done cooking already?"

"No, I was got a small dizzy spell and your dad told me that I needed to sit and rest for a while."

"Are you sure that you are ok?" I was now alarmed that she was sick.

"Yeah, I just didn't get much sleep last night and forgot to eat breakfast."

"Bad dreams?" I was worried that our accidental encounter would set her back. I didn't know what she was ready for emotionally.

"Uh…no…I had this certain _image_ in my head that I just couldn't get to go away. Not that I was trying all that hard to stop thinking about it." I looked to see Dad, Seth, and Charlie were now engrossed in a game that was on and not paying attention to Bella and me.

I was completely speechless at that statement. Did she just say that she was thinking about seeing me naked while she was lying in bed? Oh God. She could not say things like that to me. I was lying her holding her sleeping daughter with our fathers both sitting in the room. Then again, maybe this was the best time. There was a sense of safety for her with her father sitting a few feet away. She was pushing her boundaries a in a safe environment where she would not be under any pressure to go farther than she what she was ready for. Did I ever mention how smart my girlfriend was? I reached out my hand toward Bella the best that I could given that Tanya was sleeping on that arm. But, Bella took the hint and put her hand in mine.

After a half hour of Bella and I whispering things to each other I really needed to get out of the living room for a minute or two. I carefully extricated myself from Tanya and went down the hall to the bathroom. As I was heading back, I detoured to the dining room when I heard voices arguing. I had just reached the doorway when Jessica was pleading with Alice, "I'm sorry that I hurt you, but did you ever once consider that maybe I did it to protect you? That I thought you were too special, too good of a person to drag you with me down the hole that I was falling into?"

A/N:

Here is part one. It is still technically Friday in the Midwest…which is where I am. Which actually suck and I am quite whiny about the fact that the Twilight cast passed right over my town and didn't stop. I live in one of the 50 largest cities in the US and we never get anything good like that. Enough whining from me.

Part two, maybe by the end of the weekend? Monday at the latest.


	46. Chapter 47

LL Chapter 47

Thanksgiving pt2-Confrontations

"I'm sorry that I hurt you, but did you ever once consider that maybe I did it to protect you? That I thought you were too special, too good of a person to drag you with me down that hole that I was falling into?"

"Do you think I am that stupid? You never cared about anyone including yourself. Edward and Bella may have bought your sob story but I am not falling for it." Neither one of them seemed to notice that I was standing there.

"I don't blame you for hating me and for not trusting me. I really don't. I just hope that one day you will believe me when I say that only I did it to protect you. To keep you away from Lauren and the poisonous life that came with her."

With that, Jessica walked towards the kitchen door. Alice reached out and grabbed her arm. "Just tell me why you chose her over me? I mean, given what she was doing with your father, she doesn't seem to care about you at all."

Jessica stopped and turned back to Alice, "I never chose Lauren. I chose the numbness that the drugs gave me. My dad cheating on my mom is nothing new. He's been doing that since I was eleven. They started sleeping in separate rooms when I was twelve. But, paying her to have sex with him was a low I never thought even he would stoop to. His arrest was the final step in the destruction of our family. The drugs helped me cope with the hell that I was living in at home. Your parents love each other. Mine fought constantly. Where your parents tell each other that they love each other daily, mine told each other how much they hated the other and wished they had never gotten married and had me." I felt so bad for her. Her life and her choices were not what any of us had thought they were. No child should have to endure behavior like that from her parents.

It made me think about Bella and her mom. Bella could have easily gone down the same path that Jessica did. Between being raped, beaten, finding out that she was pregnant, and her mom's suicide she had dealt with enough crap that most people would have given up. It only increased my belief that Bella was the strongest and most amazing person that I had ever met. It also dawned on me that this is why Bella found it so easy for forgive Jessica and want to be her friend. She saw in Jessica life, the life she could have ended living if she had been weaker. Bella was the best person that I could think of to be the friend and the support system that Jessica needed to turn her life around for good. Then I realized that my angels had been sent to us for a reason.

She had saved me from being the arrogant asshole that I was becoming and the lonely life that I was living. And they were both sent her to save Jessica from completely destroying her life. If Bella and Tanya had not come to Forks, Leah never would have set up Lauren and Jessica's father, which was the catalyst for Jessica getting clean. I think that I finally understood the anger and confusion that Bella had been dealing with. I couldn't actually be glad that Bella was attack, that was wrong on too many levels, but, if she hadn't been I wouldn't have her if my life, Tanya wouldn't exist, and Jessica would still be slowly killing herself with the drugs. My head was spinning with this train of thought, so I decided to return my attention to the heated conversation that was happening in front of me.

"Where is your mom really at, Jess?" I spoke up, stepping further into the dining room, and alerting them that I had been listening.

Jessica looked at me and then down at her shoes, "She is at home in bed. She goes to work and then comes home and lies in her bed all night. Between dad and me, we have managed to humiliate her so completely that I don't think she will ever forgive us. I expect that she will take off as soon as I leave for college." Tears started falling from Jessica's eyes.

I sighed and put my hand on her shoulder, "Why don't you go to the bathroom and calm down a little and then come sit with Bella and I in the living room. She nodded and walked off leaving me alone with my sister.

"I hate that she's here." She spit at me.

"Are you listening to yourself? You know if you would actually open your eyes and look at her, you'd see what Bella and I do, someone who has lost everything in an instant. When did I become the nice twin and you become the insufferable snob?" She gasped and I just turned and walked out of the room without another word.

I detoured to the kitchen to get drinks for Bella, Jessica, and myself and by the time I returned to the living room, I found Jessica and Bella sitting on the floor together. Tanya was now awake and Jessica was entertaining her with the stuff dog that I had bought Tanya. Rose and Jasper had arrived and were sitting on the couch with their dad and Seth. Dad and Charlie had taken the two armchairs in the room. I took a seat next to Bella and we watched Tanya giggle at the dog until she got restless. Bella turned Tanya onto her stomach. Tanya started trying to roll over again and she was so close to doing it that we called Mom, Sue, Mrs. Hale, and Alice into the room and got everyone's attention on her. Sure enough, it only took a matter of minutes before she actually did. Tanya rolled over for the first time and we were all there to see it. Bella was so excited that she grabbed me into a hug and then she hugged Jessica. While everyone was cheering Tanya on, she was attempting to roll over again and finally succeeded. My first thought was this was only the first step in her becoming mobile. It wouldn't be long before she was crawling and then walking.

A/N:

There is part two, I think that there has to be a part three since they haven't even eaten yet! Then there will be a time jump of a few weeks. I hope this gives you a little more understanding into Jessica. Next update by the end of the week, I hope. I just have to say that you guys never fail to make my days better with your reviews! I appreciate each and every one that I receive.


	47. Chapter 48

LL Chapter 48

Thanksgiving pt 3 Friends

It wasn't long before Tanya was hungry again and Bella took her to the kitchen to make a bottle. While she was gone Rose moved to sit next to Jessica and me. "Aren't you going to help cook?" I teased Rose. Mom, Alice, Sue, and Mrs. Hale had returned to the kitchen to continue working. I don't know if they really had that cooking left to do or if they just wanted to escape watching football.

"Do you want to end up in the ER with food poisoning?" She taunted back. I could not deny the honesty in that statement. With Rose, the further she stayed away from the kitchen the safer it was for everyone.

Bella returned and tried to feed Tanya the bottle, but every time Bella would put the bottle up to her face, Tanya would drink for a second and then she would start fussing and crying. Charlie came over and took Tanya from her and she took the bottle and was fine.

We were trying to figure out why Tanya did not want Bella to feed her other than going with Charlie's reasoning that she just wanted her grandpa. Rose asked Bella when she washed her hands last and if she used a soap that Tanya was not used to, thinking it might be the smell a strange soap.

"I washed them before I left the kitchen and I have used that soap before today."

"You were helping in the kitchen; did you touch anything with a strong smell that she might not like?"

Then it hit me, "You were chopping onions earlier!" Rose and I each grabbed one of Bella's hands and smelled them. Sure enough, the strong odor of onion was there. I was with Tanya, I wouldn't that smell in my face while trying to eat. Rose reached into her bag and grabbed out a bottle of hand lotion. "It's honeysuckle scented so its strong. Keep putting it on and hopefully the smell will go away."

About halfway through the game, Bell, Jasper, Rose, Jessica, and I got bored and decided to go up to my room to play video games. Jasper kept watching Jessica with apprehension and made sure to keep his distance from her, it was really starting to irritate me. Jasper was usually more open minded than this. I started wondering if his behavior had more to do with Alice's feeling about Jess than his own, even though, I know the Hales had more right to angry with her than any of us. She did do physical damage to their house. At least he wasn't actually being rude to her; he was actually talking to her a little and asked her a couple of questions. He even asked her what her plans were for after graduation. She said that the only thing that she really wanted to do was get out of this town and away from everyone that knew her past. That actually sounded like the smartest thing that she could do, get a fresh start.

It was three when Alice came up to tell us that dinner was ready. There was now a large banquet table set up in the living room. The bottles of wine set in ice buckets along the table were a dead giveaway that the adults were eating in the living room and we 'children' were eating in the dining room. I guess being the parent and payer of the mortgage gives you the right to choose the table that will allow you to continue to watch football while you eat. The other hint that we were eating in the dining room is Charlie had set Tanya swing up in there with her in it. She had a little toy ball in her hand.

"Isn't that a cat toy?" Jessica asked Bella.

"Yes." Bella laughed, "Sue got them. She said that they are light enough for her to be able to pick up and yet that are still too big for her to get into her mouth." Bella went on to explain that Sue used to buy them for Leah and Seth. It was supposed to be good for their hand eye coordination. But it seemed that Tanya just liked the noise that it made because she kept that ball ringing all through dinner.

The adults came into the dining room as Dad said the blessing over the dinner, "We gave thanks for our family, our continued good health, for our friends and loved ones that have joined us today, old friends, new friends, and lost friends that have finally found their way home."

We enjoyed our feast in boisterous conversation. Alice was the only one that had remained quiet throughout dinner. I didn't know if it was from what happened earlier or because she was always nervous about everyone eating her food. Every one was commenting on how amazing the food was. I knew that one day my sister was going to be an amazing chef. I made her smile when I started teasing her that we were going to see her on the Food Network one day.

After dinner was over, those of us that did not help with the cooking had to do the cleaning while the Alice and her merry band of sous chefs got to put their feet up in the living room and watch a movie. By the time that we got everything, washed, dried, and put away we walked back into the living room to find that Bella had fallen asleep in the recliner. None of us had the heart to wake her so we let her sleep through dessert. She was still out cold when Charlie was ready to go so he took Tanya home with him to allow Bella to get a full night's sleep.

Alice went upstairs and brought down a blanket and a pillow for Bella, so she would sleep more comfortably and then we all left her to sleep in peace. I knew that my parents and Alice were ready to crash. Mom and Alice had especially had a long, hard day of cooking. I turned on the TV in my room and grabbed my computer to play on the internet.

It was about one in the morning when I heard a soft knock on my door. Bella came in on my command to enter. She was taken aback when she realized that I did not have Tanya, "Where is she?"

"Your dad took her home so that you could get some sleep."

"He didn't have to do that."

"I think he missed her last night." I smiled as I sat up and grabbed her hand, pulling her down onto the bed with me. This was an opportunity that I was not going to pass up. Everyone else in the house was fast asleep and the little chaperone wasn't here. We spent an hour talking, cuddling, kissing, and watching a movie until she fell back asleep still wrapped around me. Neither of us was inclined to take things beyond some heavy kissing. We were not in any hurry to rush our relationship. There would be plenty of time for a physical relationship when we both ready. To be honest, I didn't know which one of was more scared to move our relationship to that level. I carefully got off the bed and went downstairs to sleep on the couch. I did not want to frighten her when she woke in the morning, nor did I want to get caught by Mom and Dad and get into trouble.

I had always been happy with my life and never knew that anything was missing until Bella entered my life. I fell asleep thinking about the future and for the first time I was worried about where my sister was going to fit into that future. We seemed to be going down different roads. I guess it was inevitable as we were grown up and had different goals in life. I just found it hard to believe that in a few short months I would not be seeing her everyday. But Bella and Tanya, I was positive that they would always be by my side.

A/N:

I meant to finish this and post it last night. I decided that drinking sounded like the better idea. It was a long day at week and just when we thought it couldn't get worse it did.

Again, there is a time jump in the next chapter. Just a slight one of a few weeks but there really wasn't anything that interesting to say anyway. I might start this afternoon depending on business if I can get it done tomorrow, I will post but I think we are really looking at Sunday or Monday. After all Breaking Dawn is hitting theatres and I have my niece and nephew staying for the weekend so I can take them.


	48. Chapter 49

LL Chapter 49

New Experiences

The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas flew by so fast and so many things had changed. Jessica was now around all the time. If a couple of months ago anyone had told me she and I would ever be friends again, I would have said they were insane. There was no way that I would ever forgive her or trust her to be in my life. But she was my friend again. I never realized her home life had become so bad that she felt she had no other choice but to turn to drugs and alcohol to escape. She had been so alone for so long.

Jessica had made peace with the fact that she and Alice were never going to be friends again. She told me one day that her counselor at rehab warned not to expect everyone to forgive her. Some bridges burned could not be mended. At least Alice had stopped showing open hostility every time Jess came around and was now behaving civilly toward her. Jessica really was trying so hard to succeed at being clean and sober and the rest of us were happy to see it. She even managed to get a job bussing tables at the diner a couple of nights a week and that was helping her both financially and emotionally.

It was probably helping her that Lauren was not here to influence her. The chief told us one night that he had run into Lauren's mother and found out that Lauren had checked herself out of the rehab center and disappeared. Jessica spent the next week or so looking over her shoulder as if she expected Lauren to come after her.

Jess had much work to do to catch up on everything she missed while she was in rehab that Bella and I had been helping her study when we could. Bella and Alice still went to their Judo lessons every Wednesday and Jasper and I continued to babysit that night. We were trying to include them both as much as we could, but we were finding it rather difficult but at least we were attempting to be fair.

The best part of the month came just this last week when Tanya achieved some major milestones. If you sat her up, she could sit on her own for a while, but not too long. She just could not get herself into a sitting position on her own yet. Nevertheless, being able to sit meant that she could start eating cereal and baby food. She even started cutting her first tooth. This really meant that she cried, fussed, and drooled a lot more than she normal did.

Bella, Jess, and I were at the store together right now trying to pick out the cereal and some fruit for her. Jess and I kept picking up the jars and asking Tanya if she wanted to try it, which just made Tanya laugh at us. I was really amazed at how good Jess was with Tanya, not that either Bella or I would trust her to babysit. Hell, we didn't trust Emmett to watch her on his own.

I put my foot when Bella picked up the container marked prunes with apples. No way was she feeding that to a baby that I had to change diapers for. We ended up with apple blackberry, pear, apple raspberry, and some vanilla custard. The doctor also told her she should grab some baby juice to try with her as well.

After our shopping, we went back to Bella's house. We were going to have dinner, watch movies, and wrap presents. Christmas was only a couple of days away and I had not wrapped anything yet. Just like Thanksgiving, we were having everyone over to the house for a big meal. This made Alice excited. Once again, she went into executive chef mode, planning a menu and enlisted her sous chefs to help her cook.

We sat Tanya between us and she was having a great playing with a bow that fell close enough to her for her to reach. When she finally let us know that she ready for her took her to the kitchen where Charlie had set up her brand new highchair. Bella made her cereal while Jess and I figured out how to get Tanya into the highchair and put her 'I love mommy' bib on her.

We sat at the table and watched Tanya as Bella sat down with the cereal and bottle with juice in it. She tentatively put some cereal on the spoon and reached it out to Tanya. She looked at the spoon and then up at us with the cutest little confused look on her face. She had absolutely no clue what the hell she supposed to do.

"Put it right to her mouth and see what she does." Jessica prompted.

Bella put the spoon right up to Tanya's lips and she still just sat there. The three of us looked at each other unsure of what to do. How do you teach a baby this small to open her mouth and eat?

Bella sat there light touching the spoon to Tanya's mouth in the hopes she would all of sudden just open her mouth and start eating. Finally, when Tanya got tired of waiting to be fed and started crying. I saw an opportunity when she opened her mouth to wail and I grabbed Bella arm pushing her hand forward. The look of shock on Tanya's face when the cereal hit her tongue was almost as priceless as her confused look.

Together we managed to get her to eat most of the cereal that Bella made. As for the juice, she sucked that down faster than I had ever seen her drink her formula. She really loved that stuff. I just wished that someone had warned us what feeding solids would do to her bowl movements. That was the grossest, well shit for a lack of better word, that I had seen come from her yet. Maybe I could get Bella to reconsider this solid foods thing.

A/N:

Happy Friday! I get to see Breaking Dawn tomorrow! YEA! I have the next chapter started and hope to post by the end of the weekend. Enjoy!


	49. Chapter 50

LL Chapter 50

Hiding the Mistletoe

This was the first year that I really had fun Christmas shopping. Bella and I had gone shopping together and she had to keep telling me not to buy so much for Tanya. But her reasoning was ridiculous, 'she too young to understand', 'she won't remember' or because 'she won't be able to use these things for months'. I would just kiss her and say that her birthday wasn't August so we need to get her things that she could grow into between now and then. So, I was just repeating what heard my Mom give that excuse to my dad when she came home with a bunch of bags of gifts for the baby. It sounded like sound reasoning to me. Bella would just sigh, roll her eyes, and shake her head saying that everyone was spoiling Tanya. I don't think she realized at that point Tanya wasn't the only one I going to be spoiling with gifts.

When Bella and her family arrived on Christmas morning Bella was already in a grumpy mood. It turned out that her family had gone just as overboard on gifts for the baby as my family and I had. She would just have to come to terms with the fact that we all loved that little angel and we just couldn't help ourselves and we weren't even going to try to stop spoiling her.

The house wasn't quite as crowded since the Hales weren't there yet. They were supposed to pick up Jessica on their way over for lunch in a couple of hours. But we had Bella's family come over early to open presents. And like I said, there were a lot of presents to open. Tanya officially had more clothes than I think she would ever be able to wear in her lifetime let alone before she outgrew them and enough toys and books to keep her entertained until _she_ graduated college.

I spoiled Bella with gifts as well. I had watched her closely when we were out shopping together. I loved it when her eyes would light up over the littlest thing or when she flipped through a book that she obviously wanted. I went back later and bought a lot of the things she looked at or I made notes of what she wanted so I could give others ideas on what to get her.

I knew that I wanted to give Bella one gift that was really special, but I had no idea what to get her, so I went to my mother for advice. She came up with an amazing suggestion and went with me to pick it out. I decided that I would rather give her this one in private so I left the box up in my room.

After all of the presents had been opened and everyone started wandering off, I took Bella and Tanya and led them upstairs to my room. After we were sitting on the couch, I handed her the little box that contained both gifts. As soon as she opened the box and saw what lay inside, she started to cry. Then threw herself at me and hugged me tightly, whispering that she loved it and it was so beautiful.

I had given both of them the same heart pendant necklace that was inscribed with the quote, "A mother holds her child's hand for a short while and their hearts forever". I grabbed Bella's out of the box and put it on her then together we put Tanya's on her. Mom assured me that it was safe for her to wear posed no choking hazard

We immediately returned downstairs where Bella took her new digital camera Mom and Dad had given her and took pictures of everyone holding Tanya. While I took the video camera that Charlie and Sue had given her to tape Bella taking pictures of Tanya. There was no way that Tanya was ever going to forget her first Christmas; we were going to have enough tangible reminders as possible to show her as she grew up.

When Alice had originally told me she wanted to make these fancy, gourmet, mashed potatoes I tried to talk her out of it by reminding her that a baby would be eating them. So Alice went nuts making this little homemade baby food feast for Tanya. She had jars made up of pureed sweet potato with brown sugar, cinnamon banana pudding, applesauce with cinnamon and nutmeg, and homemade white grape peach juice. She went through a lot of trouble and I just hoped that she would be too upset if Tanya did not like it because of all the spices.

Tanya ended up liking Alice's food better than anything we had bought for her at the store. For the first time she actually started crying and trying to reach for the spoon if Bella didn't feed her fast enough. Alice walked out of the room looking smug and muttering something about starting a gourmet baby food line someday.

Later that afternoon, when Bella and her family were ready to go home, we discovered that there was going to be a problem with getting all of the gifts in their car. Of course, when the Hales showed up, they came with a ton of gifts for Tanya as well. I thought that Bella was going to have a fit but managed to keep her irritation hidden from everyone but me. I knew her well enough to know when she was upset about something. Bella had already elected to some things here for Tanya for when Mom and I babysat but they still did not have enough room in the car. So, I volunteered to follow behind them with the presents they couldn't fit in.

Bella opted to ride with me and Jessica tagged along with us so I could drop her off at home on my way back. It helped to have an extra set of hands to help unload the packages. I had already found an opportunity to get Bella alone and give a few Christmas kisses. I could not help but give her a couple more as Seth and Jessica took the last packages into the house leaving us alone for a minute.

We made plans to go out on a date in a couple of days without Tanya. We hadn't had the chance to get out just the two of us for a couple of weeks. It was hard to find someone that was available to babysit. Everyone that she trusted was either too busy working or getting ready for the holidays or me.

She was actually going to leave Tanya with Jessica and Seth and Seth's girlfriend on New Year's Eve so we could go out. Jessica volunteered to help watch her so she wouldn't be tempted to go out or do anything stupid. Not everyone was happy with Bella for agreeing to it but I was behind Bella on this. We both trusted that Jessica would do fine and it wasn't as if she would be here on her own. She would have help and I thought it showed great strength and maturity that she recognized a potential situation that could be a weakness and took steps to keep herself out of that situation.

A/N:

Happy Monday! I got to see Breaking Dawn and I loved it. I also had to explain imprinting on the way home to two 13 yr old and an 11 yr old who told me that given the fact that Jacob is an adult and reneesme a baby, that would be illegal and well, just plain gross. Out of the mouths of babes! LOL!

I have a link to the picture of the pendant on my profile if you want to see it

**Slight spoiler warning below**:

I want to warn you that next time we see New Years Eve and heartache for some characters, but not Bella or Edward. I will tell you that.


	50. Chapter 51

LL Chapter 51

The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me

In the days following Christmas Bella and I found a lot of time to simply hangout together. Mostly, I went to her house so she wouldn't have to take Tanya out in the cold. A couple of time we had our friends come over to hang out with us, but mostly it was just the three of us. Christmas break would have been unbearable if I had to go days without seeing both of them.

I was here just yesterday. We spent most of the day lounging around their bedroom. We threw some pillows and a blanket on the floor and Bella and I alternated between reading books and watching Tanya as she enjoyed playing on the floor next to us. She was an expert at rolling over now. She did it so much that occasionally we would have to go grab her and bring her back onto the blanket. Then she would roll away again. I swear sometimes she did it just to make us have to get up and get her.

Leah had been hanging out with us more as Sam was busy working on a car for a new client. Apparently, it was a cousin of Leah's on her dad's side. I thought that was weird because when I asked Bella if Leah and Seth had to do the holiday thing with their father's family she said that there were a lot of his extended family that were still angry with Sue for marrying Charlie and doing it so soon after Harry died. She agreed it did sound strange, but Sam told Leah that he was trying to create some goodwill between the families. Still sounded off to me but I promised Bella that I would drop it.

Tonight there was a huge bonfire party going on down at the beach. Several of the local towns got together and sponsored the party for the teenagers and the under twenty one crowd every year. It created a safe environment for them to ring in the New Year. Everyone I knew that had ever attended had fun and that is where I was taking Bella.

I picked up Jessica on my way to Bella's. I knew that she was planning to spend the night at Bella's but I didn't think that it required three duffle bags.

"You know are only spending one night, right?"

"Most of that is stuff to entertain Tanya."

"Do you not remember all of the toys and books she got for Christmas?"

"How can I forget? My arms still hurt from carrying all of it in the house. And besides this is just some stuff I found in my attic I thought would be cool to bring for her to play with."

It was great seeing Jessica so excited about life these days, but I couldn't say anything to her about it because we were already at Bella's house. I helped Jessica carry her bags into the house.

After laughing at all of the bags that Jess brought, Bella went to get her coat but turned back to Jessica, "My dad wanted me to remind you that you are officially chaperoning Seth and Mary. They are to remain downstairs or if they need to use the bathroom only one of them upstairs at a time. You also have the authority to tell her to go home if things get out of control but regardless she has to leave by 12:15. He's not too happy about this but its Dad and Sue's rules." Part of Charlie's job was to patrol the party and watch for troublemakers and Sue was taking a shift at the hospital.

"Don't worry about anything. I have this completely under control. Just go out and have fun!"

After a few more instruction about Tanya, I managed to get Bella out of the house. I wanted to take Bella to a nice restaurant for dinner, but she insisted that we eat at the bonfire. When we got there, we immediately ran into Sam and Leah. We got our food and found a place to set out our blankets close enough to the fire to keep warm. We were still laughing and eating when Alice and Jasper showed up. Neither of them looked particularly happy. It was as if there was something going on with them. Now was not the time to get into it, I would wait to talk to Alice at home later.

"You boys better be taking good care of those sweet young ladies of yours," a loud voice came from behind me. I turned to find Charlie standing behind me holding a hotdog and a soda, he looked down and narrowed his eyes at Bella, "and you can't say anything about my supper when you are eating the same thing little girl."

"Touché." She replied.

"And take it easy on the soda. You still aren't supposed to have the caffeine and you have been splurging a lot on your diet lately," he reminded her. Her response was to stick her tongue out at him.

"I can't wait until Tanya is old enough to get mouthy with you." Then he walked off into the crowd again, back to being Chief Swan.

The rest of the night, we spent watching people play sand volleyball, dancing, and taking a long walk along the beach. Before I knew it, it was only a couple of minutes until midnight so Bella and I made our way back to the main party for the big countdown.

Bella moved closer to me as the countdown started and wrapped her arms around my neck. I was always so amazed that she found it so easy to be this close to me physically after what she went through. As soon as the countdown hit zero, I leaned down and kissed her.

I had only been kissing her for a few seconds when someone bumped into me. I turned to tell them off, but came face to face with a sobbing Leah. Within moments, Charlie appeared at our sides as if he had been watching us. Leah was so hysterical the only thing we could get out of her was "Sam" "cousin" and "loves her". Bella and Charlie put their arms around Leah and started leading her to my car. Jasper and Alice were standing in the parking lot, deep in a heated conversation, when we got there and they came to see what happened.

As Bella was getting Leah into the car, Charlie asked Jasper and I if we would stay at the house in case Sam showed up. He and Sue were working all night and he no longer felt comfortable leaving the girls alone with just Seth there. As he turned to return to work, he yelled back that he would call our parents and let them know what was going on.

We got back to Bella's house by half past twelve and I had expected to find everyone asleep. I was a third right. We all just stood there taking in the scene before us. Seth was crashed on the couch. However, Jessica was sitting up in the rocking chair with Tanya and was singing to her. I had forgotten she could sing so beautifully. But, really amazed me was the song that she was singing to her. It had once been one of our favorites and I had not even thought of it for years.

"What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing?

And what do we think we might see?

Someday we'll find it,

The rainbow connection

The lovers,

The dreamers,

And me.

All of us under its spell

We know that it's probably ma-gic"

We drove Mom and Dad just as crazy watching "The Muppet Movie" as we did watching "Back to the Future". Jessica looked up and was surprised to see all of us there. Bella went over, took a now sleeping Tanya from her and took her upstairs. Leah went to the couch, woke her brother and sent him upstairs to bed. Then she lay down on the couch and stared at the ceiling. I was contemplating whether or not to go get Bella when Alice caught my eye. She was walking over to the TV. It was then I saw what she had, a DVD case for the Muppet Movie.

"You still have this?" Alice asked Jessica

"Yeah, it's still one of my favorite movies."

Alice just nodded and hit play on the DVD player to start the movie over and went to sit on the floor by Leah. Bella returned a few minutes later, in her pajamas, carrying sweats Jasper and I, and a nightgown for Alice to change into.

When I came back down from changing my clothes, I took a seat next to Bella. She was holding Leah, who was crying again. We watched the movie in near silence. The only other sound in the room was Leah's sniffling until she fell asleep from the exhaustion of tonight's events. Eventually we all fell asleep. Sam never showed up nor did he even call her.

A/N:

I know a crying Leah may seem a little OOC to a lot of people, but I think it was an honest reaction to the immediate aftermath of finding out about Sam and Emily. Trust me the anger will come next! And yes I had to throw in a Muppet's reference. I love "Rainbow Connection" listening to it last night inspired me in writing this chapter. Since I will not get another chapter out before Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving and if you are going shopping on Friday, good luck and be safe.


	51. Chapter 52

LL Chapter 52

The Morning After

I woke up on the floor, exactly where I had fallen asleep. I could feel that someone had covered me with a blanket and placed a pillow under my head. I my eyes and saw that Bella was still lying right next to me. I sat up and noticed that everyone now has blankets and pillows. I took a good look around and see that Alice and Jessica were no longer in the living room with us, and the baby monitor has been turned off.

I stood up and wandered off to the kitchen where I found Jessica and Alice feeding Tanya her breakfast. As I walk across the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, I caught a glimpse of Charlie and Sue's cars in the driveway. They must have been the ones that covered us with the blankets when they came in early this morning. As soon as I sat down at the table with my coffee and Tanya saw me, she started getting excited and reaching for me. Alice switched spots with me so that I could help feed Tanya.

When I was done feeding her, Jessica offered to Tanya upstairs to get her dressed for the day. Once she was gone I turned to my sister, "Why were you and Jasper upset last night?"

"I got my acceptance letter. I leave for Paris in June, two weeks after graduation. He's upset because he thought we'd still have the summer before I left. I did too, but they put me in the earlier class. I have to go."

"Wow. That's great news. Wow. That still leaves us with six months, right?"

"That is what I told Jasper last night. He's not crazy about the separation."

"I am sure he's not because I am not too crazy about it. But it will all work out. You two will get through it and years from now you will wonder why you were so worried about the separation."

"I know." She sighed. I could tell that she wanted to believe that it would be that easy. At least I knew that Bella and I would be together next year.

We sat in silence until Leah came into the kitchen. She sat in the chair that Jessica had vacated, laying her head on her arms and started crying again. I had never seen Leah act so un-Leah-ish. This was not the same strong woman that took down Lauren because she picked on Bella. But I could understand.

I was still awake with Bella and Leah after everyone had fallen asleep. Unfortunately, I had been right about Sam. He had been cheating on Leah with her cousin for the last few weeks. Last night when she was looking for Sam for the midnight countdown she saw him slip into the woods and followed him. There she saw them together and heard him tell her cousin that he loved her and couldn't wait to marry her. When Emily asked when he was going to tell Leah, he said just as soon as Leah gave him the money he needed for the shop. He and Jacob couldn't get it started without her help. I was ready to wake Jasper, call Emmett and Charlie and go after the asshole. Bella must have realized that I was getting angry because she leaned back against me and pulled my arms around her. I was trapped between her and the couch with no way to easily escape and go after him.

Alice stood up and made Leah a cup of hot tea with honey and clove in it. I was at a real loss as to what to do for her but, she sat up a few minutes later with a sigh and started drinking her tea.

When Jessica returned with Tanya, Leah took her and held her close to her chest with her eyes closed as if just holding the baby close was easing her pain.

By nine everyone was awake and in the kitchen except for Bella, who was still snoring away on the living room floor. "Should we wake her or would she prefer to sleep?"

"Let her sleep." Charlie answered. "She never gets enough sleep."

I didn't want to leave before Bella woke up but, I really needed a shower and a toothbrush plus I felt we were intruding at a time Leah would have preferred not to have an audience to her misery.

I was surprised, though, that Alice did not throw a fit when Jasper suggested that it made more sense if he drove Jessica home and I took Alice with me. It did make sense as Jessica lived close to Jasper and Rose.

We drove in silence the whole way home. It wasn't until I pulled the car into the garage that Alice spoke, "She's not as bad as I wanted to believe she was." And then she got out of my car without another word.

As I walked into the house I passed Alice, who had stopped in the kitchen and was pulling out her bread machine. I smiled as I found Mom and Dad cuddling on the couch, watching a movie. I continued up to my room for a hot shower.

I threw on a pair of sweat after my shower and collapsed on my bed for nap. I was dreaming that I was on a boat with water spraying me in the face until I started to wake up and realized that water really was hitting me in the face. I opened my eyes and found my sister standing over me with a spray bottle of what I hoped was just water. She was trying hard not to laugh as she continued to spray me with the mist from the bottle. I jumped up off the bed and chased her downstairs yelling empty threats at her while she screamed and laughed ahead of me.

Mom and Dad wanted to take us out to Port Angeles to celebrate Alice's good news, just the four of us. We would have a big party when I received my acceptance letters and decided where I was going.

I went upstairs to change my clothes and decided to send Bella a text while I was at it, "Being kidnapped by fam. Call you before bed." It did not surprise me that I did not get a response back before we left. She didn't keep her phone next to her if she was playing with her daughter.

Alice and I continued our sibling games the whole ride to Port Angeles by poking each others arms, making faces at each other, and tattling; which did nothing but make our parents laugh. So we tried harder by alternating asking, "are we there yet?" But that just made them laugh harder. Then Mom sighed and dad grabbed her hand, I knew they were going to miss us next year when we were off in college. I'd be able to come home once in a while, but Alice wouldn't. It would be a long time between visits from her.

As promised, I called Bella when we got home. Sue, Leah, Tanya, and Bella had kicked Charlie and Seth out of the house and spent the day watching chick flicks, eating ice cream and pizza, and doing manicures and pedicures. Sending the boys out on their own without babysitters of their own was quite dangerous. I knew that they would head up to the reservation and would risk running into Sam, possibly on purpose.

I was more certain than ever that this was a no where town and I was not the only one that needed to escape it. Jessica and Leah both need a reason and a way to leave this town or they would be stuck here living in misery. I just needed to figure out a way to help them.

A/N:

Poor Leah. At least she has family and friends that have her back!

I am still stuffed full of turkey! And Sam needs to get beat with a turkey! I have just about all of my Christmas shopping done and the house decorated. Every time I turned around this weekend my family was dragging me out shopping. I saw BD again on Thanksgiving! Still loved it the most.


	52. Chapter 53

LL Chapter 53

Letters

With January came a month of extreme cold that Bella was not prepared for. Every day when I'd pick her up for school she would come downstairs dressed for an arctic expedition. You would think that she had to walk a couple of miles to school through the woods with the get up she was wearing.

Leah was slowly getting over Sam's betrayal. She was happy when school started again so she would have that for a distraction. Jacob showed up at the door one afternoon wanting to talk to Leah but Bella told him to go to hell and slammed the door in his face. She didn't like him nor did she trust him, for good reason, and she was not going to let him near Leah in her vulnerable state. At least Leah didn't have to put up with either of them at school since they had graduated last year.

I just didn't understand how Sam could be so callous toward Leah after dating her for several years. He never once called or tried to see her to explain himself to her. Everyone on the reservation knew what he had done and no one was happy with him hurting the daughter of one of their elders. No one from the reservation would go to Sam to fix their cars anymore. Seth told us that everyone was using the same excuse with Sam, "I don't trust you and I'm afraid you'll cheat me." His business was over before he really started it.

I thought that was hilarious and I am pretty sure that Seth and Sue were behind it. They are the only ones that spend enough time on the reservation and know enough people to pull that off. Emmett said that I should consider it a warning never to hurt Bella or her family would destroy me too.

Speaking of people that hurt Bella, a week after we returned to school we were at her house studying. Bella had just taken Tanya upstairs to change her diaper when the phone rang. I answered it thinking that it might be Sue or her dad but it was a nervous sounding girl on the line.

"Is…uh…is Bella Swan there?"

"She's busy at the moment. Can I tell her who's calling?"

"Are you the brother…umm…Scott…no…dang, I should remember this. Is it Shawn?"

"Her brother's name is Seth and I am most definitely not her brother. But the big question is do you know your name?"

"Can you tell her Cassie is on the phone?"

"Cassie? As in the Cassie that was supposed to be her friend but abandoned her when her when she need a friend the most?"

"Oh ..uh...you…uh…you know?"

"Of course I know!

"Can I talk to her?"

"She's busy changing the baby right now. How about I tell her you called and if she wants to talk to you she'll call you back."

"I understand that you hate me. I hate myself for what I did."

"You should." Bella came down the stairs with Tanya and looked at me quizzically. I held the phone out to her with a sigh, "its Cassie." Bella visually paled but handed Tanya to me as she took the phone out of my hand. I set the baby down on her blanket and turned to return to Bella's side. I found that she had moved to the couch so I sat down beside her and started playing with her in an attempt to comfort and calm her.

I didn't know what this Cassie was saying to her but Bella was keeping her answers very short and clipped so I wrapped my arms around Bella and pulled her close to me.

"So you're sorry now? Am I supposed to grateful and consider you my best friend again? If that is what you want you're too late I have new friends. Friends that are loyal, protect me, and stand behind me no matter what."

"Not that it is any of your business, but that was Edward, he's not only my best friend, he's my boyfriend."

I got up and took off after the baby who was about to roll off the blanket. When I got back, she was off the phone. She was just sitting there staring into space. When I sat down next to her, she leaned into me and sighed.

"What did she want?"

"She misses me and wants to be my friend again. I don't think I can."

"That is your decision, hon, I will support you whatever you decide. But right now I have an idea, why don't you go take a nice, long hot bubble bath and relax for awhile. Tanya and I can handle watching the casserole you have in the oven."

Bella was in the tub so long that I ended up feeding Tanya her supper. Unfortunately, she has started this thing where she tries to grab at the spoon so she ended up wearing just as much food and she ate. She was so filthy that I didn't think that a sponge bath was going to take of the mess. I sighed and looked down at Tanya who was grinning, "You know what you need and now I have to go disturb you mother's bath."

With a sigh I walked up the stairs and over to the bathroom door. I had been trying my hardest _not_ to think about Bella being up here in the tub. Naked. But this little girl needed a bath right now and Bella was in the only tub in the house.

I knocked lightly on the door and listened intently to hear her response. Listening intently, I could hear music playing softly, so I knocked louder. I heard the water splash and Bella squeak out, "Edward?"

"Yeah, I just fed her dinner and she really needs a bath." I knew that I was going to hell for this but, as I stood there holding her daughter the only thing I could think was she was naked on the other side of this door.

I heard more splashing and then I heard her padding across the bathroom floor. I convinced myself that if I kept my eyes trained on the floor I would get through this without embarrassing myself. That was until I caught a glimpse of her feet and then my eyes drifted up her legs, her sexy, naked legs with these little patches of bubbles on them. Then I took in the full sight of her wrapped in that little purple towel with her hair pulled up in a messy knot on her head. She was so gorgeous and sexy. With this vision of her in my head, I was going to have a hard time keeping my resolve to wait to further a physical relationship with her. As she shut the door to the bathroom behind her, I started banging my head on the wall. I was so fucked right now.


	53. Chapter 54

LL Chapter 54

Is it cold in here or is it just you?

For the rest of January our teachers kept us bogged down with a lot of homework. We assumed that it was a last ditch effort to attempt to teach us something, anything, before we graduated in a few months and the world got to see how lacking the Forks' educational system was. I still maintain that I am smarter than the teachers in this town are.

I am glad that Tanya won't be stuck going to school here. Bella and I will still be in college when she starts school. That means either school in Los Angeles or New York. Either way one is a major step up from what is available here.

If I had any notion of attempting to take our physical relation further, Bella put a stop on it before I truly had a chance to consider it. She just wasn't acting like herself lately. I just couldn't figure out what was wrong with her.

As the month went on though, Bella got moodier and more withdrawn from all of us. One night, I was over at her house so we could study for a science test together. She went from being surly with me to outright snapping at me or anyone else that dared to speak to her. My biggest mistake of the night was agreeing to quiz her.

After the sixth wrong answer she gave me she really lashed out, "If you weren't asking such stupid fucking questions maybe I'd know what the hell you were asking me!"

I sat there dumbfounded for a moment. I was ready to snap myself. I was just sat there willing myself not to verbally attack her back when I felt a hand on my shoulder, "Edward, perhaps its time for you to go home." I agreed with Sue and immediately packed up my stuff and left the kitchen without a word to Bella. I was afraid that if I did speak, I would say something that I would definitely regret.

I did not hear from her that night. Today was my day to volunteer at the hospital so Bella would be driving herself to school. But she never showed up at school. I was distracted all day worrying about her.

Since they were still baby free in the NICU, I had been assigned to work with the children in the pediatric ward. I welcomed the distraction of playing with the kids there. I was helping ones with some homework. She was insistent that she not fall behind just because she was stuck in the hospital. She was a smart little thing and reminded me of Bella with her long brown hair and brown eyes.

She was only ten and was having a series of surgeries to correct injuries she suffered in a car accident. She had been here for a couple of weeks and they were talking about discharging her in another week or two as long as her recovery went as planned. I was helping her with her math tables. The nurses had allowed me to sneak in soda and sweets when I came to work with her. For every math problem she got right, I'd give her a Hershey kiss.

I was getting to the harder material that he teacher was covering and I knew when she was stuck. She always tried to change the subject if she didn't know the answer.

"Do you have a girlfriend, Edward?"

"Yes, I do. Now answer the question, Holly."

"What's her name?"

"Her name is Bella. Do you need me to help you figure out the answer?"

"Is she pretty?"

"She is beautiful. Where are you stuck on the problem?"

"What does she look like?"

I sighed. I really did not want to talk about Bella right now. I would just end up getting angry again but I answered her question. "She has long brown hair and brown eyes, almost like yours. Now, we need to get back to your problems or I will be the one that gets to drink that soda over there."

Holly giggled and went back to her problem. It was a tough question and one that took even me a minute to figure out. Twenty minutes later, she had answered all of her problems correctly and was drinking her soda and we were watching "How to Train Your Dragon" together. I normally would have left right after Holly finished her homework but I was not interested in going home where the only thing I had to do was stew about Bella and her mood swings.

After the movie was over, I promised Holly that I'd be back on Saturday and left for my long ride home. By the time I made it back to Forks I was starving. Since I knew that dinner at my house was over, I decided to stop off at the diner for supper.

Jessica was just sitting down to eat after her shift when I got there so I joined her. After we were finished eating I drove her home so she wouldn't have to walk in the cold. When I finally pulled up to my house, I saw Bella's car parked there.

For the millionth time today, I sighed then I banged my head down on my steering wheel for a moment before I had the strength to go in the house. I found her sitting one in the living room with Mom

"You're home late tonight." I explained to Mom why I was later than normal before she went upstairs leaving Bella and I alone to talk.

We sat there in silence for a minute before I noticed that someone was missing, "Where is Tanya?"

"She's with my dad. He took the day off to spend with me and to make sure I went to see my doctor."

"Are you ok?"

"Oh, Edward!" She started crying, "I didn't mean to be a bitch to you last night. I'm so sorry."

I walked over and sat down on the couch next to her and pulled her into my arms, "It's ok, Bella. I won't pretend that I wasn't angry with you, because I was. But I think the anger was more that I was hurt there was something bothering you and you wouldn't talk to me about it. Instead, you lashed out at everyone."

"I know. It's just harder than I thought it would be. I thought I'd made my peace with it all, only to have the calendar bring it all back."

"I don't understand."

"In a couple of weeks will be the one year, well, I don't want to call it an anniversary like it's something to celebrate." She sighed, groaned and hid her face in her hands for a moment. On February 5th it will have been one year since they…"

She didn't need to finish that. I knew what was bothering her. That looming date had made her demons resurface. Now that I knew what it was I could try to help her. I didn't know how to do that exactly, but I did now that on that night she would be sufficiently distracted in I had to enlist the entire town to help me.


	54. Chapter 55

LL Chapter 55

Title

We sat and talked for a long time about everything that was going through her head. It seems that lately she had been back sliding in her recovery and she had been attempting to ignore it and lock it away in her head so she wouldn't upset anyone. The only thing that accomplished was upsetting everyone anyways when she verbally attacked them for no reason.

By the time she had to go home, she seemed to be in a better mood than she had been in recent weeks. Her moods continued to shift back and forth over the next couple of weeks. I really could not blame her for her anger. Emmett made it his goal to make her laugh as much as possible.

He started sending her text messages that he called the joke of the hour. It lasted all of two days until he was stupid enough to send an extremely dirty and offensive one that Charlie accident saw. I was just glad that he used his own phone and not mine so I was _not_ the one called down to the police station and lectured for two hours straight how improper it was to send that text to a lady and then he had to sit through lessons on how to treat a girl like a lady. Then his mother got a hold of him. Watching Emmett get reamed by all the adults was like watching Ralphie get in trouble for repeating the same swear words that he had heard his father say all the time. "Only I didn't say fudge". Joke of the hour ended there. Leah was the only one besides Emmett that thought the joke was even remotely funny.

Bella, in the mean time, was spending more time talking with her therapist either on the phone or with actual visits. The nightmares came back about a week before _that_ date hit. I knew she wasn't sleeping when she fell asleep in the car on the way to school. I turned the car around and took her back home.

Today was Friday and the day that we had been worrying about for weeks. Knowing today was going to be hard on her, I worked with Leah and Rose on a plot to kidnap Bella. We had planned a night for her that was sure to keep from dwelling on the bad memories. As we were walking to my car after school, I grabbed Bella's school bag away from her as Rose, Jessica, and Alice came along beside us and steered her to Leah's who was waiting in Sue's van. "Have fun!" I yelled to her as they shoved her in the back of the van. She was going to have fun tonight. The girls were starting with manicures and shopping, and then they were going to dinner and a movie. I was heading to Bella's house to drop off her books and pick up Tanya. Then the girls were having a sleep over at my house with Alice. That way Bella would have everything she needed for Tanya.

I knew the girls were not going to get in until late so I moved the port-a-crib into Alice's room and put Tanya to bed in there. I took the baby monitor in my room and lay down on my bed to read a book. I must have fallen asleep because I woke up to Bella kissing me and giggling. It had been so long since I had heard her laugh. I loved that sound and I had missed it the last few weeks.

"I take it you had fun tonight?"

"I had the best time. This was really exactly what I needed today," she sighed as she snuggled into my side and put her head on my shoulder. "Thank you so much. Did you two have fun tonight?"

"Oh yes. We had some pureed squash and applesauce for dinner, and then we read all of our favorite Dr. Seuss books, after that we practiced our push-ups for a while."

"Wow! You two had a busy night. No wonder you were sleeping so heavy when I came in here. It took me awhile to wake you."

"I really liked you waking me up like that. Feel free to wake me like that anytime. You have to get back to the girls don't you?" I asked while kissing her.

"Yeah. If I don't go they will come here looking for me."

I kissed her again before she climbed off the bed, "Good night, and sweetheart you know I am right here if you need anything."

She blushed for some reason, and hesitated for a moment before she jumped back onto the bed giving me one more kiss and telling me she knew that, before slipping out the door. I fell back to sleep with the thought that next year when we were off at college and she had her own apartment perhaps we could have our own sleepovers. Since seeing her in that towel that night, I found myself wanting to pursue a slightly more physical relationship with Bella. Which was strange for me to believe as I had never been that guy. I had prided myself as not being like the other hormone driven sex-crazed teenage boys in school. I had more control over myself than that. But, that vision of Bella standing there wet and in that towel looking so stunning was completely breaking down my self control.

The only thing holding me back right now was the fact that I knew right now was not the right time to push her. It would definitely be a bad idea to bring up the subject tonight. So, I had resolved myself to wait until she was in a better place emotionally before I even attempted to discuss it with her.

The next morning I stumbled into the kitchen to find my sister making breakfast for everyone. She had been cooking more often now that she had officially given up her job at Newton's. She said that she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her family, friends, and Jasper before she left for Paris. Once she was gone visits home would be few and far between for her. My hopes and prayer were that she really would come for good one day, but I was not holding my breath. Our lives were about to change drastically in a couple months and the distance caused by attending different colleges may be permanent.

A/N:

Sorry for the delay in posting but it's Christmas season and I have been shopping more than I should! I will post again in a day or two.

I have found out that there is a new fandom fundraiser. This one is for juvenile diabetes and as a diabetic I can't not donate an outtake. It's not due til February so I have time to write it and you have time to consider donating. The outtake will be from Bella's POV and will pick up where Charlie's outtake left off. For those of you that have not read that, I will be posting that here on January 1st. I will put the link to donate up on my profile page in the next couple of days.


	55. Chapter 56

LL Chapter 56

I wanted it to be real

I was lying in bed having a hard time falling asleep. I just could not turn my mind off. I kept thinking about her in that towel. I had been tossing and turning for what seemed like hours before I heard the bedroom door open and her soft padding footstep as she crossed the room to me.

I felt the bed dip in the darkness. I rolled over toward her as I felt her hand lace through my hair. She leaned down and kissed me. As I deepened the kiss, she climbed further onto the bed until she was straddling me. I reached down and grabbed her hip. Fucking hell! She was completely naked. I brought up my other hand and placed it on her breast causing her to moan into my mouth. I moved my other hand to her ass and pressed her down onto me. She reached down, grabbed me with her hand, and began stroking me gently. "I want you so bad, Edward," she whispered into my ear. I was more than to oblige her and give her what she wanted.

I moved my hand from her ass and slowly dragged it forward to her stomach and start trailing down when she releases me only to grab my hands in hers and kiss me harder. "Not yet," she whispers again.

Then in a move that I would never have seen coming she released my hands and shimmied down my body until her mouth was right there. Then she moved, opened her mouth and ran her tongue along my hipbones, teasing me and making me jump.

She giggled and moved to do the same on the other side before finally taking me into her mouth. I never dreamed that it would feel so amazing to have Bella like this. Her mouth was so hot and her tongue was doing things to me that were just mind blowing.

Finally, I had to grab her and stop her before this ended too soon. I pulled her up the bed and rolled us over so that I was on top of her, "I love you so much, Bella," I whisper to her before leaning down and taking her breast in my mouth making her moan again. I kept alternating between her breasts making her moan and wiggle underneath me more.

I took my hand, reach down between her legs, and started stroking her, making her cry out. She was so wet and it was an amazing feeling. I decided that this was my new favorite place to put my hand. I didn't really know what I was doing here. I had never done anything like this before. Nothing even close to it. But, going by her moaning and the fact that she was begging me not to stop I knew that I must have been doing something right. Her breathing started getting heavier as she started arching her back. Even though the only light I have to see by is some moonlight, it is a remarkable sight, to see Bella under me like this.

Moments later, she cries out again while arching her back. I lie there half on top of her and watching her as she lies there with her eyes closed and trying to catch her breath. She is so beautiful like this. Hell, she is always beautiful to me.

Suddenly she opens her eyes, reaches down, and takes my face in her hands, gently tugging me up so that she can kiss me again. I feel her shift beneath me until I am lying directly on top of her. I can feel myself right there .and I am completely ready to just push forward that small distance and be inside her. I look back up to look in her eyes and make sure that she really wants to do this when she whispers in my ear again, "I want you, my love."

Then I am inside her and she feels…I cannot form a coherent enough thought to be able to describe how it feels to be inside her, to be making love to Bella. She reaches her head up to kiss me again and I give her what she wants. In a sudden move, she lifts her legs and wraps them around me tightly. She is moaning again and her breathing is ragged as I speed up my movements. I am so close that I can feel it and so is she. She is just starting to cry out when a pounding noise startles me. I jumped back and I can feel myself falling.

The pounding noise comes again and I suddenly find myself on the floor of my bedroom twisted in my sheets and blankets. I am alone in the room and it is way too bright in here. I sit there on the floor utterly confused as to what just happened.

"Edward? You up man?" Jasper calls out from the hallway. I look at the clock on the nightstand and realize that it is ten in the morning and it was all just a dream. It was just a dream and I am all alone with a mess in my pajamas and my sister's boyfriend right outside my room. I want to kill him for waking me when he did but I remember that we are supposed to drive up to Port Angeles to pick up flowers for Bell and Alice because today is Valentine's Day. As I stand to let him know I am awake and get cleaned up I want to cry because that was the best damn dream I had ever had in my life.

A/N:

After days of Edward ignoring me, this is what he gives me. Please be kind, I get really nervous about writing lemons.


	56. Chapter 57

LL Chapter 57

Valentines Day Pt 1

I yelled to Jasper that I was up and would be downstairs in a little bit. I jumped into the shower and then changed the sheets on my bed for good measure. I took my time cleaning up and getting dressed in the hopes that my nerves would calm down before I went downstairs and had to face everyone. I was convinced that they would only have to take one look at my face and know about that dream. I didn't know why there was a part of me that felt guilty about the dream. It was normal to dream and fantasize about one's girlfriend right? Even with what she had been through, it was ok right? I mean Dream Bella came to me so that makes it ok, right? And it wasn't just what happened physically in the dream that had me unnerved there was what dream me said to her. I sighed and walked out of my room with a resolution to forget about the dream.

Luckily my sister had already left with Rose, who had dropped Jasper off at my house, so I didn't have to face either of them. I found Jasper in the kitchen finishing eating the omelet that my sister had obviously made him. After I grabbed a juice out of the fridge I collapsed into a chair at the breakfast bar next to him. The good thing about Jasper is that he always seems to know when you just don't feel like talking about something and knows when to leave you alone so we sat in silence until he was ready to leave.

My plan to forget about the dream was futile because unable to focus on anything all but that morning. I knew Jasper had caught on that something was bothering me but there was no way that I was talking to him or anyone else in detail about that dream. I told him that I had had a strange dream and left it at that. He was usually the first person that I would talk to when I had a problem, but given that his experience on this matter came from his experience with my sister, I really did _not_ want to go there with him. Ever.

I had been at a real loss for what to do for Bella for Valentine's Day. Especially after I overheard her telling the other girls that getting all dressed up just to sit in an overcrowded restaurant and eating an overpriced meal was not her ideal way to spend Valentine's Day. Besides, we went out to dinner and the movies so often there wasn't anything special about that. I finally came up with something I thought Bella would love. Mom and Dad had bought this cooking kit years ago for those odd times when our power went out. It allowed us to cook using the fireplace. I thought it would be fun for Bella and me to have a romantic picnic in the living room.

We were going to have the house to ourselves since Mom and Dad had already left for Seattle where Dad was treating Mom to a day of shopping and then the symphony tonight. They told us they would not be back until sometime Sunday afternoon. I knew that my sister was in for a surprise tonight. She knew that Jasper had made reservations at her favorite restaurant but did not know that after dinner they were going take a class in ball room dancing at a studio in Port Angeles. That was the kind of thing that she loved to do.

After Jasper and I left the florist, we ran to the grocery store because there were a few things that I needed for tonight that I was insisting on picking up fresh today. Specifically the fresh fruit I wanted to feed her. It wasn't going to be the most romantic food ever served but the whole meal had been approved, her doctor, aka my dad.

After we were done with our shopping I drove Jasper home before heading back to the home. I had a lot of work to do before Bella and Tanya came over. That was the other reason I thought staying in was a good idea. Bella had been feeling guilty because _she_ felt she was leaving Tanya with sitters too much lately. She really wasn't but she would not listen to us, her sitters.

I took the groceries to the kitchen and started cleaning and cutting up the cantaloupe, honey melon, and grapes I bought for the fresh fruit salad. Then I mad a pitcher of the same lemonade I made her months ago the first time that I watched Tanya so she could go to her doctor's appointment.

After I was sure that the food was ready I went up to my room. I eyed my bed and thought, again, about the dream that I'd had and decided that another hot shower might help me to relax before Bella got here.

I was tried to insist on picking them up but Bella was equally insistent that she drive herself over. She did not want me to have to drive her home at the end of the night only to have come back home. I let it go because it was not worth getting into a fight over.

As soon as Alice had left with Jasper, I brought my comforter and pillows down to the living room and borrowed the pillows from the guest room. I set up a big pallet on the floor for us to lie on and started the fire place.

It wasn't long before Bella arrived dressed just as I had asked her to. I had told her to just sweats, lounge clothes, or pajamas. It didn't matter as long as she was comfortable, but if I had a vote it would be for the pajamas. Apparently my vote did not count this time because she was wearing sweats. It did not make sense to dress up if we were going to be spending the night lying on the living room floor. I would rather the two of us be comfortable. Beside, she looked really relieved when I suggested that.

I took the diaper bag from her as she walked into the house and entered the living room and took in the blankets and pillows by the fire and smiled. I wrapped my arm around her from behind and whispered in her ear, "I thought we'd have a little picnic," before kissing Tanya on the head. I kissed Bella on the lips before grabbing her hand and leading her over fire and helping her sit down.

A/N:

A small word about the last chapter. I was surprised that no one mentioned what Dream Edward said to Dream Bella. I always believed that what is happening in your conscious life affects your subconscious.

Just a little reminder, I will be writing a Bella outtake for this story for the fandom for juvenile diabetes compilation. You can find the link up on my profile. As I diabetic I just couldn't help myself.

Now a rec: If you are not reading Caveward you need to be! This fic makes me laugh! Warning she has, in the past, used controversial plots but I just love her stories. Here is the link and summary:

Trancendence by Savage7289:

Ehd doesn't know how the woman ended up in his pit trap, he just knows he wants to protect her and provide for her in any way he can. She sure does make a lot of noises with her mouth, though. Caveward is born!

http:/www(.)fanfiction(.)net/s/7570951/1/Transcendence

Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you guys again next week!


	57. Chapter 58

LL Chapter 58

Valentine's Day pt 2

She put Tanya on the floor on her tummy and we spent a few minutes watching her attempting to rise up onto her hands and knees which according to Sue and my Mom was the one step away from crawling. I don't know about Bella but I was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that Tanya may soon be mobile. Crawling only led to walking and walking led to running. Then you had a baby running around getting into to everything. At least, that is always what happened in the movies.

I got up after a minute of watching Tanya's rocking and disappeared into the kitchen. I packed the picnic basket I had brought out of storage and grabbed the vase of Tulips that I got for Bella. I thought they would look great in her butterfly bedroom. Plus there was the added bonus that if the flowers were in her room she would be able to look at them every night when she went to bed and think of me.

Bella actually squealed when I gave her the flowers, "How did you know Tulips were my favorite?"

"I…uh…didn't. They were the prettiest, most vibrant flowers in the store and they just kind of reminded me of you."

"Well, I don't know about that, but they are just so colorful and mean spring is here. You know, I tried to plant them in Arizona once."

"Tulips? In the desert?"

"Yeah, I was like eight and saw a picture somewhere of a house with a tulip border and I wanted one for our house. Mom tried to tell me that it wouldn't work but I cried and threw fits until she gave in and bought me bulbs to plant. She told me not to expect anything til spring. I waited all winter and spring for them to come up and they didn't. Then one morning I woke up and found them fully grown and in bloom. I was so excited Mom could barely get me to leave the house for school. I was afraid that they wouldn't be there when I got back."

"Wait. The flowers went from absolutely nothing to shooting up into full blooms overnight? That is not possible."

"No. It's not. Mom was tired of me moping around the house waiting for them to bloom so she bought a bunch of wax ones to plant. Unfortunately, it was so hot out that day that by the time we got home from school all my tulips had melted away in puddles. I cried for days."

"That was sweet of your mom to try, but I am sorry you never got your tulip border."

"That's ok. With any luck, I will have one this spring." 

"How so?"

"I planted some bulbs in dad's lawn when I moved up here this fall. Let's just hope I did it right." 

"I'm sure you did. Are you hungry? Maybe we should feed her dinner then we can eat."

"I fed before I came over. I didn't want to deal with the mess she's been making lately here. So what are we having for dinner?"

"Well, I may not be a gourmet chef like my sister but I think I have put together an acceptable fireside dinner for two." I grabbed the basket and started pulling things out, "We have hot dogs, fresh fruit, and lemonade. Then for dessert we have smores."

"Real smores? I've never had a real smore before. In fact, I don't think I've ever had a campfire meal before. This is perfect." I was doing a major internal happy dance that she like the dinner I had planned while I put the hot dogs on the skewers and held two of them into the fire.

She moved over, maneuvering herself under arm to be able to cuddle into my side. We sat like that for a few minutes until our hotdogs were done cooking. Before I realized what she was doing, she grabbed the hotdog out of my hand and moved so that she was literally sitting in my lap. Then she held it up for me to take a bite. One quick look down and the blanket showed that Tanya was too busy eating her cloth book to pay attention to what we were doing. Not that she would actually be able to understand any more than I did why Bella was sitting my lap and like hell was I going to be dumb enough to question it. But I did grab the hot dog from her and feed her a bite.

We took turns feeding each other the hotdogs. When the first two were, she fed me the fresh fruit while I made us some more hot dogs. The greatest part of it was that she got bolder and bolder about it as the night wore on. It seemed her favorite move was to withhold the hotdog from me until I gave her a kiss. I wasn't sure where this boldness came from but I was enjoying it.

After feeding each other six hotdogs and eating all the fruit she reluctantly climbed off my lap so that I could clean up and she could move the now sleeping baby to the play crib in the corner of the room.

I returned to the living room to find Bella standing in front of the video cabinet with the remote in her hand. I walked over to her, wrapped one arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. With my other hand I reached up to the top shelf and grabbed her present.

"You didn't have to, Edward; the dinner was enough for me."

"I know. I wanted to. Now open it." I knew that Bella had a thing for Cary Grant movies so I bought her copies of, "An Affair to Remember", "Bringing Up Baby", and "Arsenic and Old Lace".

"Can we watch one now?"

"Of course. Which one do you want to watch first?" She took a couple of minutes looking between the three movies, trying to decide when finally she landed on "Arsenic and Old Lace." She said that one was really funny.

We were about half way through the movie when Chief Swan called on the house phone, "Is Bella still there? She's not answering her cell."

"Yeah, she right here."

"Good. Look the snow is coming down hard and the streets are a sheet of ice. Sue and I both got called in because of the accidents. It is really dangerous out there and I would prefer that she didn't try to drive home. Look, I know your parents are in Seattle for the weekend, but would it be alright if they spend the night there?"

"Yeah. Of course. I don't want her trying to drive on ice either since she never has before."

"Exactly. I'll call tomorrow when I think it is clear enough for her to drive home."

After I got off the phone with Bella we both ran to look out the window. Sure enough the snow was piling up fast. I grabbed my cell and sent a text to Alice and Jasper not to try to drive back to Forks tonight but to let me know where they ended up.

"I can't believe that your dad is fine with us spending the night alone together."

"Edward, I am eighteen and a mother. He realizes that I am an adult and at this point he has to trust that I am making only the best decisions for me and my daughter."

I just nodded and Bella and I settled back in on the floor and finished watching the movie. She was right; it was hilarious and a bit creepy with those batty old women burying the men they killed in their basement. While I went to put in "Bringing Up Baby", which Bella assured me was funny as well, Bella went upstairs to use the bathroom. When she came back down she had the pillows and comforter from my bed with her, "I decided that we are going sleep down here tonight."

She wanted to sleep down here? With me? Like literally in the same bed, right next to me? I mean, I knew that we would be fully clothed and all, but….

I I didn't get farther than that in my thought processes because Bella was dumping the pillows on me and lying down next to me. I covered us both with the blanket and we started the next movie.

I have no idea when we fell asleep, but when I woke the next morning Bella was curled up in my arms. Now that was the perfect way to wake up.

A/N:

I intend to get one more chapter out by Christmas. Cary Grant and Tom Hanks are my favorite actors of all time. Her boldness will be explained in the next chapter. There is a very good reason for it.


	58. Chapter 59

LL Chapter 59

The Morning

Waking up with Bella in my arms was the best thing I had ever felt in my life. She was still fast asleep so I took a minute to just lay there and watch her sleeping peaceful. She was so beautiful and I didn't want to disturb her so I decided to let her sleep while I started making breakfast.

That planned changed though when I sat up and looked over to the playpen to see that Tanya was awake and oh my God there was no way that I could let Bella sleep through this. She would never forgive me. "Honey, wake up." I started shaking her shoulder. "Bella wake up! Look at this!"

She reluctantly opened her eyes, looked over to the play pen where I was pointing, and then she shot up off the floor with a squeal. Tanya had finally managed to get herself into a sitting position all by herself.

"I can't believe that she did it while I was sleeping and nearly missed it!"

"I've heard the saying a watched pot never boils. Well I guess a watched kid never sits up." This got her to laugh at me.

We had decided that Tanya's achievement called for a special breakfast but, unfortunately, I could not cook that well so I just made us something simple. I used some leftover ham from Sunday's dinner to make scrambled eggs and ham and then I made us some toast.

Bella put some eggs without ham in front of Tanya and got a jar of Alice's homemade plum-applesauce out of the fridge and warmed it up. I sat there watching them in total amazement at how good Bella was at feeding both Tanya and herself at the same time. It was like this synchronized thing where she fed Tanya a bite and then she fed herself. Tanya was really enjoying the eggs even if they majority of them ended up on the floor because her hand-eye coordination wasn't perfect yet. It was kinda funny to watch her drop the egg and then look over the side of the chair to see where it went and then she would start laughing. I swear the child not only looked exactly like her mother but was a genius like her as well.

We sat eating in silence for a few minutes before finally I got up the nerve to ask the question that had wanted to ask since last night, "Not that I am complaining or anything because I'm not, but last night you were…I mean…how do I put this? You were confident and daring and you were…uh…you were sitting in my lap, feeding me, and I was just wondering what brought that on. Again, not that I am complaining because I'm not."

"Oh. Well, I have been talking about sex with my therapist a lot lately and all my fears regarding it. You know, will it trigger some memory and cause me to flip out? Stuff like that. She keeps telling me that I will never know unless I put myself out there and push my boundaries. She also keeps telling me that as long as I let my fears rule me those bastards will continue to win because they will continue to have power over me. But I need to be able do it in baby steps and only when I felt ready to. I have been trying to get up the courage to do something for a couple of weeks now."

"What changed for you last night?"

"I'm not sure. It just felt like the right thing to do. The timing just felt right."

"You were ok, right?" She had seemed fine last night but I needed to know for sure…from her.

"I was nervous as hell at the beginning to be honest. It only took a couple of minutes for me to relax and realize that I was fine and I was not going to be hit with one of my panic attacks or some repressed memory. Last night was fun."

"Last night was a lot of fun," I agreed with her. So was waking up next to you, I thought. Maybe if she was pushing her boundaries then maybe next year we could do more sleepovers like that. And maybe we could have sleep over that would include turning that dream I had into reality.

"I don't know when I'll be ready to push boundaries further, Edward." She had her head down and was focused on her hands lying in her lap. I didn't say all that out loud did I? Nah, she would have been asking about that dream if I did or at upset at my train of thought.

I reached over and put my hand on the side of her face, getting her to look at me, "Take your time, Bella. I am in no hurry. I don't want to push you into something you are not ready for at all." I really wanted to add that I loved her. I had realized last night when I was holding her while we were watching those movies, that when I said that to her in that dream I really meant it. I loved her. I had no idea why it hadn't dawned on me before or why it took having a dream about having sex with her to realize it. I just could not get myself to say it to her. Maybe she was right about the waiting until the timing was right thing or maybe I was just too chicken shit to say it out loud. I mean, I didn't want to scare her and all. Yeah, I'll just stick to that reasoning. That sounds good to me.

After we finished eating and cleaning up from breakfast, I got bundled up so I could go out and clean off the porch. Dad hired a service that would be coming to clean off the drive as it was so long, but the porch and sidewalks were for me to do.

While I was out there I got to thinking about next year and how Bella was going to handle the cost of an apartment off campus when the solution hit me. Damn! It was so obvious and I could not believe that no one had thought of it before. Although, there were quite a few people that had to agree to the plan I was forming, it was absolutely brilliant. That is, it will be the perfect solution if we are accepted to the same schools. Luckily the letters were due to be coming in a couple of weeks and we could really put this plan in motion then.

When I was done with my I came into the house through the garage. I took off all of my wet clothes before entering the house. I found Bella in the kitchen holding a cup of hot cocoa out to me. Yeah, this was perfect.

A/N:

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanza! Or whatever you find to celebrate this weekend. My son sat up for the first time while I was out of the room. I was just glad that I was actually home and not at work when it happened.

Also in the last chapter with the wax tulips I forgot to mention in my author's note that I got that idea from a rerun of I Love Lucy when she accidentally takes out a friends tulips with a riding lawnmower. It was an epic episode.

For those of you that are reading Follow Your Heart the Epi is almost done. I am actually just struggling on the last paragraph. It will be out on Sunday. Next Chapter of LL will be Monday or Tuesday.

OH! Because I am really bad at remembering to add this: SM owns the characters, I own this plot!


	59. Chapter 60

LL Chapter 60

Letters, Nerves , and Fathers

They were starting to show up. Those damn letters that would tell you where your future would lie, or didn't lie as the case may be. We were all nervous wrecks over it. But we had all agreed to wait until Friday and open them together over dinner at the diner.

I grabbed the letters off my desk as I ran out of my room to leave for dinner. Alice was riding with me as it made more sense than Jasper coming to get her. She already knew where she would be going to school next year, but was worried about wear Jasper and I would end up. I think she worrying about what the separation would do to their relationship.

When we made it to the diner Jasper, Rose, and Emmett were already there waiting for us. Leah, Bella, Tanya, and Jessica showed up as the waitress was putting our drinks on the table.

We all sat there in silence for a few minutes before Rose finally got annoyed, "That's it." and she grabbed the envelope from the top of Emmett's pile and ripped it open. Her smile fell a little, "You got into Nebraska. I thought we decided we didn't want to go to Nebraska?"

"You said you didn't want to go. Nebraska has a great football program." Emmett then reached over to Jasper's pile and opened his acceptance letter to Washington State. We kept going around the table like that, opening each others letters and offering congratulations and apologies when appropriate. Bella and I both were accepted to UCLA, USC, and NYU. However, I was accepted to Columbia and she wasn't and she was accepted to Hawaii and I wasn't. So Hawaii was officially off the list.

The biggest surprise to the whole group was when I opened Jasper's acceptance and USC. "You never said you were considering California?" Rose spoke up.

"I wasn't really until Alice found out that she was accepted to that school in Paris. Rose, you are probably going to follow Emmett to wherever he plays football and I really don't want to go off to college alone. And, well, I just figured that Edward and Bella might appreciate having someone around that they know and trust to babysit so they can get out alone once in a while."

As soon as all of the letters were open we all sort of broke into little groups to start talking about the huge decisions that we all had to make now. In the end, Bella, Jasper, and I decided on California. It was an easy, unanimous decision really. Leah and Jessica had not applied to any schools as they were currently trying to decide what paths they wanted to take in life. Emmett and Rose were currently fighting over schools. The only two schools that had offered to let him play football were Nebraska and Penn State. And he was refusing to play for them. I know that Rose understood how important it was to him but she was not happy about going to Lincoln, Nebraska for four years. It just upset her that they might be separated for the next few years. It did make me even more grateful that Bella and I were able to agree on the same schools and would not end up separated.

Over the next couple of days I solidified my plans for next year and was able to do enough research that I had a concrete plan of action before I was ready to talk to Charlie. As soon as I had everything together that I possibly could at this point, I called Charlie at work and asked him if I could come down and talk to him. I thought it would say a lot, given what I was about to ask, if I was willing to meet with him while he had his gun on him.

Charlie and I decided to meet at the diner which made me happy. Public places tended to be safer places. Not to mention, I also convinced Mom to come with me. She and Dad knew exactly what I wanted to talk to Charlie about and they agreed that it was a great solution.

We arrived shortly before Charlie did and Mom took the liberty of ordering him a chocolate shake. I guess it didn't hurt to try to butter him up or bribe him a little bit.

Charlie laughed when he walked in and saw us sitting there waiting for him, "Brought your mom for protection, huh?"

"And for moral support."

"I see. I think I know what you want to talk to me about, but I want to hear it from you." He said as he grabbed his spoon and started to eat the whipped cream off of the shake.

"Well, you know that Bella and I have decided to go to California together and we all know how expensive that will be in tuition and rent and all. Even staying in a dorm is going to be expensive. And I know that no one really was happy with the idea of Bella and Tanya living alone in a strange city. So I came up with an alternative plan."

"Yes, Sue and I are well aware of what it is going to cost. I take you've come up with a plan?"

"Yes I have." I pulled out the folder that I put together, "Jasper is going to California with us as well and I talked to Leah and Jessica and they've agreed to this, as long as you and Bella do, that this is the best option. These are the printouts of several listings for houses for rent in Los Angeles near USC. They all have a yard for Tanya to play in as she gets older because we will be living there for at least the next four years."

"What are Leah and Jessica going to do in Los Angeles?"

"Leah was talking about getting a job and Jessica is thinking about not only getting a job but going to school to learn to do hair."

"Tell me where is everyone is going to be sleeping in this house?"

"Oh. Jasper and I are in one room, Bella and Tanya in another, and Jess and Leah in the third. The fourth I thought we'd turn into a study/play room."

"You want to live with my daughter?

"Well, we'd be sharing an apartment but we'd have separate rooms and other roommates. Other roommates that we know and trust and we can trust to be around Tanya and help watch her while Bella is in class, which would also reduced daycare costs."

"Edward, I want you to answer me one question. I want a completely honest answer from you, so don't even try to bull shit me. How long do you really think those room assignments you have there will last before you and my daughter are officially sharing a bedroom and that "study room" is a thing of the past?"

I gulped and looked over to my mom for help but she was too busy trying not to laugh. I sat there for a minute trying to figure out how to word my answer in a way that would not get me shot. So I said the only answer that I could possibly come up with at the moment, "Honestly? I have absolutely no idea."

A/N:

And there is his plan. He wants to take a village with them to help raise Tanya! I love an honest Charlie though.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday! See you guys on Friday!


	60. outtake

A/N:

Hello! Happy New Year! Yea, because I totally fail at writing the regular chapter that was supposed to be out today you are getting this about twenty five hours early. And it's about 5x's longer than a normal chapter from this story. So here is a little more Charlie for you.

Living Life Outtake

Charlie's Worst Days

I have always been happy living my whole life here in Forks, Washington. The only blemish that I had in my life here was that my ex-wife took my precious little girl to live so far away from me and I was only able to see her a few times a year. I knew that she was almost a grown woman now, but in my mind she would always be my little girl. The same little girl that would aggravate me every time that I tried to take her fishing and would set the bait free when I wasn't looking. She said that it was cruel and gross to stick them on a hook and then attempt to drown them while luring poor unsuspecting fish to its deaths. She told me once that if I was hungry, I should just go the store and buy some fish sticks.

I knew that she loved the heat of Arizona where she lived with her mother and despised all the rain that graced the state of Washington, so, I had stopped forcing her to visit me in Forks some years ago, opting instead to take her on trips. It was a low blow to Tanya really, considering that she would never be able to save for the trips like I did. She was extremely flighty and irresponsible with money. Don't get me wrong, I knew that Bella would be taken care of, but Tanya never understood the concept of saving for anything, let alone a rainy day.

When I discovered Bella had a love of architecture, I made sure that I was able to take her to see some of the best examples in the world. For the first time that I could remember, my daughter was excited for her visits with me. I learned what I could about the architecture we were going to see, so that I would not only understand what it was that we were looking at, but was also able to have a reasonably intelligent conversation with her about it. Hell, I even enjoyed those trips.

I had just spent the last few days doing internet searches and I thought that I had come up with the best trip of them all for this summer. Japan was known for its state-of-the-art architecture when it came to earthquake-proofing a building. I knew that between Sue and me, we were going to able to save more than enough money to take the entire family on the trip together. Bella was supposed to call me tonight so that we could talk about our trip.

I left the police station and started the short walk over to City Hall for my monthly meeting with the mayor. Something felt off, though. I could feel deep inside my bones that something bad was about to happen. I ignored the feeling and continued on to my way to my meeting. I sat there for two hours listening to the mayor complain about budgets and answering questions about the citations my deputies and I had handed out and the arrests that we had made. We were always diligent about looking for any clue that would suggest anything was the beginning of a crime spree rather than an isolated incident. We had a safe and happy small town and we were hell-bent on keeping it that way.

After a very long afternoon with the mayor, I made it home just in time to find Sue setting the dinner on the table. Leah took one look at how tired I was and grabbed me a beer out of the fridge while I collapsed into my chair and dropped my head down on the table. Leah was my stepdaughter and almost exactly Bella's age. They were both seventeen, but Leah was just a few months older. Seth, Sue's son, had just turned fifteen a month ago. They were good kids. Their father had been my best friend before he died three years ago in an accident. Sometimes, I couldn't help but wonder if he would be happy knowing that Sue and I were together and I was taking care of her and the children, or if he was sitting in heaven wanting to come back and kick my ass.

After dinner, I wandered into the living room and settled into my favorite recliner to watch whatever game I could find on TV and wait for Bella to call me. But, I just was too antsy and nervous to stay seated on my ass tonight, so I grabbed my cell phone and my jacket and went outside to the porch. Sue joined me after a few minutes and we took a short walk around the block holding each other close to ward off the cold, damp February, night air. We were just arriving back to the house when my cell phone went off.

I was startled when I saw that it was Tanya that was calling me and not Bella. That feeling of dread came back full force, pummeling me right in the gut. Tanya was so hysterical when I answered the phone that I could not understand a word that she was trying to say to me. Then a doctor got on the phone and when he told me what had happened, my legs gave out from under me and I collapsed on the porch. My baby girl had been attacked and it was bad. They were about to take her into surgery and they could not guarantee that she would live through the night.

Sue had grabbed the phone from me and started talking to the doctor. Thank God she was a nurse; she would be able to understand all of that medical talk a hell of a lot better than I ever could. Within an hour, Sue and I were on our way to Seattle to fly to Arizona to be with Bella. Leah and Seth were going to stay with their cousins on the reservation while we were gone. Luckily, both of us had bosses who were understanding people. But then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from our mayor, Gwen Cope, who was a mother and a grandmother herself. Sue's boss, Dr. Cullen, had a teenage daughter and told Sue to take all the time that she needed; Bella was going to need her more during her recovery.

When we arrived at the hospital it was the middle of the night. She was out of surgery and had been moved the ICU. Normally they would not allow visitors into the ICU after hours, but because my little girl's condition was so precarious, they allowed us in. But we could only go in one at a time and only for twenty minutes at a time. Tanya was asleep on a couch in the waiting room when we arrived, so I went in.

Sue had warned me before we had left what the doctor had told her about what had happened to Bella. She told me about how those bastards had beaten my baby within an inch of her life with a baseball bat before taking turns raping her. However, nothing could have prepared me for what I found when I entered her room. I couldn't even recognize my daughter at all. Her face was bruised and battered, her eyes were swollen shut and had cuts and bruising everywhere. They had set her broken bones into casts and she was in traction. I immediately started sobbing. I sobbed for my daughter's pain, her lost innocence, the agony that she endured at the hands of those monsters, and I cried for the pain that was yet to come.

I sat down in the chair that had been set up next to her bed, held what I could of her hand, and started to talk to her, letting her know that Daddy was here and everything was going to be all right now. I would find a way to make it better. That was my job. I told her about the trip to Japan that I was planning for us. I told her repeatedly that I loved her.

When my first twenty minutes were up, I returned to the waiting room to let Sue go in for a minute. I entered the waiting room to see that Sue had ventured down to the cafeteria and got us some coffee. This was one of the reasons I fell in love with her; she always seemed to know exactly what I needed before I did.

Tanya was awake when I got in there and sitting quietly in her chair. I waited until Sue had disappeared down the hall before I approached her. "What the fuck happened, Tanya?" I seethed. I was practically yelling at her but I really could not care less at this point. My baby was lying in a hospital bed fighting for her life because of some sick bastard that she had allowed into their home.

"I didn't know," she cried, "I swear, I had no idea he was capable of something like this or I would never have let him around her."

"Bullshit! You've only ever thought about yourself and your own happiness, Tanya. That's why you ran off, taking my baby daughter a thousand miles away from me," I screamed at her, making her cry.

A nurse came into the waiting room and asked us to calm down or she would call security and have us removed. I fell into the chair behind me and started rubbing my face with my hands while my ex-wife sat there sobbing.

"Where are the bastards who did this?"

"In jail. At least they are until they make bail."

"She's unrecognizable and fighting for her life, and they could walk free in the morning. I swear to God, I am seriously going to go after them, and take care of them the second they walk out of that station." 

"_No Charlie!_ You can't! Bella needs you here."

"Are you going to stay with that bastard?"

"How could you even ask me that after what he did to her? I would never choose anyone over my daughter, especially someone that would hurt her like that."

"Good. I swear to God, Tanya, I would have had you physically removed from this hospital if your answer had been different." I stood up and went to sit alone on the other side of the waiting room and waited for my wife to come back out. My relationship with my ex-wife was never going to be the same again. I was never going to be able to completely trust her with Bella's safety and security again.

It was a long night of waiting. I was leaving from my second turn of sitting with Bella when alarms started going off all around her. I was pushed out of the room by a nurse who came running with some machine with these paddles attached to it. I couldn't breathe. Oh God, we were going to lose her. I was positive that I was about to lose my daughter. Even though I may have considered Leah to be a daughter to me and I loved her and her brother, Bella was my only child and had an extra special place in my heart and my soul. I could not lose her. I just couldn't. Sue came running to find me the moment that she heard the code call over the PA. She pulled me further out into the hall whispering that I didn't need to see what they were doing. We stood in the hall and she simply held me while I cried and waited to find out if my baby girl was still alive.

I didn't notice that Tanya was standing in the hall with us until the doctors came out to talk to us; she was attempting to keep her distance from us. The doctor told us that they had been able to get her back, but wanted to stop the visits for a couple of hours to let her rest. They told us to go find a hotel and try to get some rest; they would call us if anything else happened. Like hell was I going to leave my baby when she was so fragile and needed her daddy. As the doctors walked away I overhead one of them say that her heart wasn't going to be able to handle much more of this strain.

The detectives and the prosecutor came to see us early the next morning. They had spent the night processing all of the evidence and they were convinced that they had a solid case, but there were no guarantees. They managed to calm me down to enough to keep me from getting a gun and going after those guys, at least right away. I was really regretting letting Sue talk me into leaving my service revolver at home. Although I knew that there was a very good possibility that I would be able to convince Leah to Fed-Ex it to me. In fact, I didn't think it would take much to talk her into it.

She coded two more time in the week after the attack and it took a total of six weeks before Bella woke up. Thank God I was able to take a short leave of absence from work; I was not about to leave her side until she woke up. Sue, however, needed to return to Washington, to work, and to Leah and Seth. She ended up deciding to spend weekdays in Washington and weekends down in Arizona with me and Bella.

Bella was slowly healing while she slept. After the first week that she was in the hospital, the doctors told us that we were well beyond the danger point and there was no reason that Bella would not wake up when she was ready to. They moved her out of the ICU after only a week of being in the hospital. The good thing about the new room was that our visit weren't being restricted as they had been in the ICU. Her cuts and bruises were long gone and she looked like my Bella again. I just hoped that when she woke up she would still _be_ my Bella. I sat by her bedside holding her hand day after day. Tanya and I took turns staying with her at nights. I was still livid with her. I did not intend to forgive her for her part in bringing those monsters into our lives and I had no qualms in letting her know that and letting her dwell in her guilt.

Tanya had volunteered to take the nights that Sue was visiting me so that I could spend time with her. She brought Leah and Seth with her the week they had spring break. Leah had the same attitude that I did when it came to Tanya. That was the week that all hell started breaking loose again and the week that my Bella opened her eyes for me.

The thought that those bastards could have gotten her pregnant never entered my mind. The doctors obviously thought of the possibility because at five weeks after the attack they ordered a pregnancy test.

While they drew her blood, we sat and waited. It took them an hour to run the blood test. Sue sat next to me rubbing my back, Leah and Seth sat on either side of us. They had bonded with Bella when we all took a vacation to Jamaica after I married Sue. I knew that they both exchanged emails with Bella, and at the very least, they were friends. Tanya again was sitting away from us all by herself.

The doctor sighed when he walked in and saw us. I could see in his eyes what the results of the tests were before he squatted in front of us. How could this be happening? Hadn't she been through enough? Now she was going to have to deal with a pregnancy too. Dear God! How much harder was this going to get for her?

"I'm surprised that after all the blows she took and the stress her body has been under that she could actually sustain a pregnancy. How will all that affect her and the baby?" Sue asked the doctor.

"We won't know for a while about how all of the treatments that we gave her will affect the fetus. We will be watching her. That being said, her body, particularly her heart, has been through a lot of trauma lately and she will be at a greater risk of complications. Specifically, we will be monitoring her for preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. Teens are at risk for these complications in general, but Bella has a lot more risk factors working against her."

"End it." Tanya spoke up from her chair. I could not believe that I had heard her correctly so I asked her to repeat herself.

"I said to end it. It is part of a monster and something else that she will have to deal with that she shouldn't have to."

"She still have to live with the fact that it happened. So no. We are not terminating this pregnancy without her input."

"She'll never have to know if everyone keeps their mouths shut."

"How the fuck can you even suggest something like that?"

"I am still her custodial parent and what I say goes."

"Sorry, Mrs. Dwyer—"

"_Don't ever call me that_!"

"Sorry, ma'am, but she is seventeen and has a right to make that decision herself. I do not see that termination is medically necessary at this point, so I am suggesting that we wait and see what the patient wants."

Tanya stormed out of the hospital and thankfully, we did not see her again for the rest of the day. Me, I was ready to punch something or someone at this point. I knew from comments that I had heard my daughter make in the past that she was completely pro-life and would most likely choose to keep the baby. Leah insisted that Sue and I get out of the hospital for the evening and allow Seth and her to sit with Bella. I was about to refuse and chain my ass to my chair when my wife grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the hospital.

We went for a nice dinner, just the two of us, and I have to say that it felt good to eat something that was not hospital food for once. When we retired back to our hotel room, we ordered a movie and just spent the evening alone, in bed, holding each other close for a few hours.

I returned to the hospital just before ten to allow the kids to return to the hotel and get some sleep. Leah offered to stay the night but I wanted to be here in case Tanya should return and cause trouble. I would never have believed that my ex-wife could behave as cruelly and callously as she had earlier. I don't think I got more than an hour's sleep all night.

Sue and the kids brought breakfast to the hospital. We had a nice family meal in Bella's room. She may still have been unconscious but that didn't mean that she should not be included in the family's quality time. I spent my morning just as I had for the last five and a half weeks. I sat by my daughter's bedside, holding her hand, talking to her, and begging her to wake up while Sue sat by my side and Leah and Seth played a card game on the floor in the corner.

That afternoon, Tanya returned to the hospital for the first time since she, had stormed out the day before. I could tell just by looking at her that she had been drinking. She completely ignored us and went to sit on the bed with Bella. She reached up and brushed some hair out of Bella's face."Mama's back, baby, and I am going to make everything all better." Sure enough she was slurring her words slightly. It wasn't completely noticeable unless, like me, you'd spent years honing your instincts to identify idiots who are driving under the influence.

"Tanya, what are you talking about?"

She completely ignored me and continued to talk to Bella. "I went to see a lawyer today, baby. He is going to get us a court date so that we can take care of this problem and we'll be able to put this all behind us and forget that it ever happened."

"_You didn't_!" I yelled at her, "This is Bella's decision to make, not yours." She was out of her God damn mind if she thought that any of us were ever going to be able to forget anything that had happened in the last five and a half weeks.

"I'm her mother and I am taking care of this and of her, Charlie."

"Like you've done such a great job lately? In case you don't remember, you are the one that let that bastard near her."

"_I fucking know that it is my fault that she is in here_!" She reached into her purse, pulled out a flask, and took a drink, "You think that I don't regret not listening to her now? That I don't regret not letting her go live with you when she asked?" We were now standing in front of each other, yelling into each other's faces.

"What are you talking about?"

Tanya started pacing around the room and staggering, "She hated Phil and never trusted him. She begged me not to marry him. She begged me to let her move to Forks. I used guilt to get her to stay. But I will not allow her to suffer anymore." I was stunned. Bella had wanted to move to Forks and live with me but my bitch of an ex-wife had talked her out of it. Why hadn't Bella said anything to me?

"You think that she won't be upset when she wakes up and finds out that you forced an abortion on her? That you killed her child? Our grandchild?"

"_That thing is not a baby, Charlie_! It is nothing but an evil abomination that must be destroyed."

"That is our grandchild and it is her decision not yours. Haven't enough people made decisions regarding her body without her permission lately? _I won't fucking allow it_!"

"_You don't have a say in this_. I have custody of her. I am going to get a court order and take care of this mess."

"I'll fight you on this, Tanya. I can get an attorney too. I will not let this happen this way."

"I will make sure that this pregnancy ends, Charlie. If the doctors won't do it then I'll find another way to kill the thing."

I was aware at this point that a couple of nurses had entered the room and were attempting to calm us down but neither Tanya nor I was listening to anyone at this point.

"I'll physically restrain you and remove you from this hospital if I have to, Tanya. Do not push me on this." 

"I really don't care what you have to say about this. I will end this nightmare once and for all!"

"What bothers you most about this pregnancy, Tanya, the fact that your teenage daughter was raped and is now pregnant or that it is possible that your pedophile husband is the father?" I knew that I was hitting below that belt with that one but I was simply too pissed off at her to give a shit right now.

With that comment, she hauled her arm back and punched my face. It was unfortunate that security entered the room at that moment. They restrained both of us and escorted us from the room and in separate directions. I was taken down to the ER to have my bleeding nose looked at with Sue by my side. They told me that Tanya had been removed from the hospital. They told both of us that we could not return until we could be calm and behave ourselves. Sue agreed with them that it wasn't good for Bella to have so much hostility in her room.

Luckily, my nose was not broken but I decided to take the advice of the security guard and my wife and go back to the hotel and calm down. I needed to get a shower and some sleep anyhow. It was hard to sleep with the throbbing pain from my nose and the regret I had for the cruel words that I had spat at my ex-wife. I did not agree with her; but there was no excuse for how I had talked to her. I tossed and turned, and stewed about everything until I finally heard Sue and Seth entering the hotel room with supper.

The three of us ate our supper in silence. Well, Sue and Seth ate their supper while my guilt was eating at me and I was pushing my food around my plate. I was appalled at my behavior earlier and that I let Tanya get to me. Not to mention that I was removed from the hospital by security. If the people back home ever found out about this I could kiss my job goodbye. We had never fought this badly when we were going through the divorce, but, she had not been this much of an irresponsible bitch before. I was torn between my guilt talking me into apologizing and my anger that was still bubbling in me that made me actually want to throttle her.

I became vaguely aware that Sue was talking to me and I tried my hardest to see if I could possibly recall anything that she had said but it was useless. I apologized to my wife and asked her what she had asked me. She said that she was taking Seth to see a movie that he had been waiting a long time to finally be released in theatres and wanted to know if I wanted to join them. While I thought it was a great idea to get Seth out of the hospital for a night, I was in no mood to go with them. I declined and then excused myself to take a walk and collect my thoughts. I had made it about halfway down the hall when I heard Sue calling out to me. I stopped and turned around just in time to catch my wife in my arms and have her kiss me, "I love you, Charlie Swan. You are an amazing father and husband and we all love you. We will get through this together." She kissed me again and then returned to our room.

I walked out of the hotel and looked up at the hospital that stood across the street and I knew that I was not ready to set foot in there yet. I turned and walked away from the hospital and down the street in an attempt to clear my head. It was when I walked into a convenience store to get a soda and a magazine that I noticed the headlines and started to become infuriated again. That was another problem that we were going to have to deal with. I knew that those bastards had pled not guilty even though we had DNA evidence on our side. They were claiming that we were lying, that the sex had been consensual, and that Bella had been fine when they left her. In the wake of that scandal at Duke University, even Sports Illustrated was taking their side. My poor baby had been raped and beaten into a coma and they had the nerve to call her a whore in a national magazine.

I grabbed some chips and a twelve pack of beer and returned to the hotel. For just one night, I needed the chance to forget the hell that we were living. It wasn't going to get any better. In fact, I knew that after Bella woke and talked to the detectives and prosecutors things were going to get a lot worse. They could not legally release her name or picture as she was a minor, but I wouldn't put it past anyone that would defend the bastards to "accidentally" leak the information.

I was about halfway through the case of beer when Sue and Seth returned. The beer had worked perfectly, I was completely numb at this point but I was willing to keep going until the alcohol allowed me to get a full night's sleep. I needed sleep so badly. I don't think that I had slept more than three or four hours a night since this ordeal had started. Sue sent Seth to the room that he and Leah were sharing and then she came and curled up next to me, grabbing my beer from me. She took a sip, grimaced, and handed it back to me. It made me chuckle a little. My Sue was not a beer drinker, she liked those fruity mixed drinks when she did drink, which was a rare occurrence.

I don't know how long we laid on that bed in silence before I passed out, but when I woke up the next morning I found a note from her that she had gone to spend the night at the hospital with Bella and she would see me when I got there in the morning.

The first thing that I did before I left the hotel was call around to lawyers to prepare for the inevitable court battle against Tanya. The third attorney that I called had been following the case on the news and was eager to take on the case, not only to fight Tanya but to help Bella and the family through the trial and help to protect her privacy. He offered to meet with me at the hospital so that I would not have to leave Bella's side.

Seth was waiting for me to walk over to the hospital; we did not want him going out alone in a strange city like Phoenix. He was a little naïve, having lived his life on the Reservation and then in Forks, where you could trust your neighbors and there weren't really any busy streets to cross. Forks was one of those small towns like you saw in those 1950's sitcoms where the kids can go out and play from dawn to dusk and the parents don't bother to worry about their kids. Leah had taken off early so that she could stop and get her mother a coffee and some breakfast.

I walked into the room, walked over to my wife, and gave her a kiss before walking over to Bella and kissing her on the forehead.

"Are you feeling better today?" My wife asked my in her gentle tone.

"Yeah, I am. I'm sorry about almost everything that happened yesterday."

"Honey, everyone has their breaking points. You reached yours." She shrugged.

"I called a lawyer. He's meeting us here after lunch."

"I can't believe she is being so callous about this. Do you think that Bella will want to keep it?" Leah spoke up from her chair across the room.

"I don't know. But it is her decision to make and no one else's."

By the end of the day, I had calmed down slightly, and that was thanks to the discussion that we had had with the lawyer. I liked this guy; he was confident that no judge would entertain the idea of signing a court order to force an abortion on a comatose woman. It was a true relief for me to listen to the lawyer and just let him worry about keeping Tanya at bay, while I concentrated on getting my daughter to wake up. He was also sure that we were going to need him to look out for Bella's legal rights throughout the trial as well. I knew for a fact that rape victims were ripped apart by defense attorneys, so it was a relief to know that I was going to have a lawyer looking out for her.

The next couple of days went by quickly. It was early in the morning and I was sitting at my usual perch in the chair next to Bella's bed, holding her hand and stroking her hair. "Please wake up for me, Bella. I love you so much. Please, sweetie."

I barely heard it, but it was there. She let out a small moan. I hit the call button for the nurse and told her to come, Bella was waking up. I turned my attention back to my daughter, taking her hand in mine again and I felt her move her fingers slightly as she turned her head towards me. Just as the doctors and nurses ran into the room, Bella opened her eyes and whispered, "Daddy?"

A/N:

I will be continuing this from Bella's POV for the diabetes compilation. The link is on my profile page.


	61. Chapter 61

LL Chapter 61

Answers

"You don't know, huh?"

I had no idea how to answer Charlie's question. I really did not know what the honest answer was. I had not considered that one scenario. Actually living with Bella as in same bedroom and same bed? The mere thought of that made me want to hyperventilate. "No. I…uh… don't. I mean I…uh…didn't…uh…I never…uh…?" I started stumbling over my words.

"Calm down, son I was just giving you hell. It's a great idea. I thought you were going to suggest the living together thing, but I like the idea of Leah going too. You're right. She has nothing left here. What does Bella have to say about this plan?"

"I haven't talked to her about it yet. I wanted to ask you first."

"I appreciate the show of respect Edward, I do, but this is her decision. I mean maybe she doesn't want to move in with you? Have you considered that?"

Oh God! I hadn't actually considered that she wouldn't like this idea or that she wouldn't want to live with me. I knew that I loved her and her daughter but what if she didn't love me? It scared me that she might not be ready to take this step.

My internal panicking was interrupted but Charlie actually laughing this time, "You are too easy boy! Calm down. I think she will be all for it. Just ask _her_."

"Really?"

"Look. I could very easily sit here and tell you what _I _think is best for her. There is a part of me that wants to lock her up to keep her safe after what happened. But I won't do that to her. She already has so much working against her that I won't make it harder on her. What I do think is that the two of you should be honest with each other about the living arrangement. I do believe that you haven't considered actually living together and all but I think you should at least discuss it. Living together is living together. It makes absolutely no difference if you are sharing a bedroom or not.

"Charlie has a point, Edward." Mom chimed in. I knew they were right.

"Now tell me more details about this house you found for my daughters and granddaughter to live in? I will insist on making sure it is good enough for them."

We spent the next hour or so going over details of the house and what I think the costs will be when they were split five ways. He seemed impressed that I have taken the time to amass so much information. Before he left to return to work, he tells me again, that it is completely her decision but he is all for it.

A couple of nights later, Mom agreed to babysit so I could take Bella out to dinner to talk to her. I took her to her favorite little cafe in Port Angeles that specialized in healthy organic foods. The menu changed daily based on what products the chef was able to get that day.

I could barely sit still in my chair while we were looking over today's menu. I knew that Bella had noticed I was acting weird because I could see her getting more nervous by the second. I decided that I needed just to say it and get it out there but before I could even open my mouth, without looking up at me she asked, "Are you breaking up with me?"

How could she think that? Why would that even be going through her head? I looked over at her and realized that she still had not looked up from her lap where her hands were wringing the life out of her napkin. I was so stressed and flustered I just opened my mouth and blurted out, "I don't want to break up with you. I want to move in with you."

Her head popped up and she just stared at me. She looked at me as if she wanted to say something but said nothing. We just sat there in silence for a few seconds. She was able to regain the ability to speak first. "You want to live together?" She squeaked out.

"Yeah."

"Wow…uh…living together…like together in the same apartment sharing a bathroom, bedroom, and bed….every night. You want to sleep together."

"Bella, I love you and I love Tanya and yes eventually I would like to get to that point.

"You love me?"

I moved over so that I could sit in the chair right next to her. I put my hand on her cheek and placed my forehead against hers, "Yes I do. Bella, I love the two of you and I want so much for us to live together next year."

"I love you, too Edward." Then I kissed her right in the middle of the restaurant.

"I meant what I said about not pressuring you. The house I found for us has four bedrooms so I originally thought that we go with separate rooms."

"Originally? Like you changed your mind and would rather share a room now?"

"I don't really know which way is the right way to go here. I am fine with whichever way you want to go, but I want to point out that you did handle sleeping next to me all night just fine on Valentines."

"Yeah, but Edward we were in your living room in sweats and my daughter was just a few feet from me. That was safe. This would be you and I alone in a bed with a lot less clothes between which would only increase the temptation to... I don't know if I'm ready for that."

"No pressure Bella," I said grabbing her hands, "I've told you that. If separate rooms makes you more comfortable then that's the way we will go."

"But you want to be in the same room. That is why you suggested it, right?"

"That was your dad's idea. I talked to him the other day and he said that we shouldn't delude ourselves into believing that a separate room arrangement would last very long. He said I should at least discuss both options with you."

"My dad suggested that?" she looked at me skeptically.

"Yes. My mom was sitting right there and heard him say it."

"Can I think about it a bit?"

"Of course. We don't need to decide on that right now."

"You said it was a four bedroom apartment? Why do we need such a large apartment for? It's just the three of us. Shouldn't we look for something smaller and cheaper?"

I pulled out the picture of the house and corrected her. She loved the fact that it had a yard but was still concerned about the size and cost.

"Bella, we need the extra rooms for our roommates."

"What roommates?"

"Us." Leah spoke up from behind her.

"You guys have some incredible timing there."

Bella looked at Jasper, Leah, and Jessica as they pulled up extra chairs and sat down at the table with us, "Ok. Now I'm confused."

"What's so confusing about it? We are all going to California together," Jessica chirped out.

"Really?"

"Sure we are. Think about it. With us as roommates you get three free built in baby sitters." Jasper jumped in.

"Really?" Bella asked again. A big smile was growing on her face. I could tell that she was really getting excited about this idea.

"You keep asking that. 'Really'," Leah playfully mocked Bella, "Yes really."

"What are you going to do in California, Leah? You have no desire to go to college."

"It's Los Angeles my dear sister. I plan to find the hottest movie star there and bringing him back here, so I can rub Sam's face in the fact that I've moved onto way bigger and better things. His loss will definitely be my gain."

A/N:

Happy Tuesday! More Charlie! I love writing Charlie and Leah. I think this a first for me that I was able to write Edward saying he loved a Tanya and did not get physically ill! LOL! Though in the first draft of that part I had Edward profess his love and Bella completely ignored it. I couldn't let her get away with that! See you on Friday!


	62. Chapter 62

LL Chapter 62

Plans

We spent the next few hours at the restaurant eating and talking about the house and making our plans to move to Los Angeles and living together. Luckily, the restaurant was dead tonight so we didn't have to feel guilty about taking up two tables for so long. There was just so much that we needed to talk about and to do and not a lot of time to do it. The first thing on our list was to call the owner and actually rent the house. To do that, we would need to go to Los Angeles to look at the house and meet with the property owner to pay the deposit and sign the lease.

It thrilled me to see Bella getting more excited about it as the night wore on. I called the landlord while we were at the restaurant and set up a meeting with him for the following weekend. He was a little wary when I told him that we were a group of eighteen years old about to graduate high school. He was worried that we were going to destroy the house or turn it into some kind of wild frat house. Once I told them that we were going to have a baby that was barely one with us so there would be no parties, unless it was for the baby's birthday he relaxed.

He also requested that we bring at least one parent along to cosign the lease. Even though we were all old to sign a contract in the state of California but none of us had established a credit history so far. I figured that either my mom or Jasper's would be able to go. Hell, both of them would probably demand to go so they could start thinking about furniture and decorating.

Bella and I didn't get a chance to talk again in private that night as Leah decided to catch a ride home with us. After swinging by my house to get Tanya I ran them home. I started to look forward to next year more whenever I thought about the fact that whether or not we were sharing a room, I would not have to drop her off home after dates. She would be coming home with me every night.

The next morning over breakfast Mom, Dad, and Alice told me that they had all decided to come to Los Angeles with us. Bella, Leah, Tanya and Sue had arrived shortly after breakfast and by the time that the rest of roommates had arrived at my house we found out that both of Jaspers parents and Sue were coming too. Charlie was going to be on duty next weekend and I don't think Jessica even thought to invite her mother to come down with us. This was going to be one hell of a weekend trip.

There was a lot more involved in getting a household set up than I had considered. Of course, I thought about utilities, couches, beds and other big obvious things like that. I'd actually spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what kind of bed I was going to need. It all hinged on where Bella was going to sleep. I wondered if using the argument that it would save her the cost of buying a bed for herself if we shared one would work with Bella. Our mothers, on the other hand, had started making of list of things that included mops, laundry soap, bath towels, silverware, plates and sheets.

After an hour and half the whole thing was making my head spin so I got up and wandered into the kitchen to get a soda. I stood facing the counter with my forehead resting on the cabinet until I felt Bella come up behind me. She reached around from behind me and placed her hands on mine. Then before I could realize what was happening she grabbed the soda out of my hands and took a drink, "Hey! You're not supposed to have that!" I spun around and tried the get my pop back.

"Oh be quiet and give me a break. I only wanted a small drink. That little bit is not going to hurt me." she rolled her eyes as she handed the can back to me.

"Are you sure about that because you like to take little sips and little bites of things you are not supposed to have a lot around me?"

She turned and started to leave the room without saying another word to me. I reached out quickly, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back to me, "I don't mean to be pushy, Bella, I just don't want to see you get sick."

"I know that, Edward. You're not the only one that has been yelling at me for that. Sue, Dad, Leah, even your dad has been getting on my case. I hate always being different."

I wrapped my arms around and held her tight, "I know. But we worry because we love you and if my dad is getting upset that means these 'little bites' are affecting your health aren't they?"

"My last few blood pressure readings have been a little on the high side but it's nothing to worry about."

"Bella I will always worry about you and so will our families. How about if I start following your diet with you? Would it help?"

"You don't have to do that."

"I know I don't have to. I want to. There is a big difference there. Besides, it wouldn't hurt me to eat a little healthier. Plus it will be easier next year if you and I are eating the same meals since we are going to be living together and eating at least breakfast and dinner together every day."

I had just leaned down to kiss her when a wailing sound coming from the living room interrupted us. We returned to the living room to find out that Tanya was in need of a diaper change. She took Tanya up to my room to change her in private.

By the end of the day, we had at least made some head way in what we were going to need and started estimating costs. There was a lot more to this than I thought there was. Apparently we needed to decide how to divide the household chores and if we were going to shop individually or as a household. That gave me a headache when the moms were all spewing out suggestions. Mom ended that conversation when she said that there was plenty of time to figure that out. She distracted us all with the suggestion that since we were going to have a house in California we needed a nice BBQ grill and some outdoor furniture. That got me. I started talking about getting a hammock to lie on and study. Or make out with my live in girlfriend. But I didn't voice that last part to the whole room. I thought it was better to keep that idea to myself for now.

A/N:

Look at me getting an update out early instead of late for once. Yea me! I remember the first apartment I got with friends. There was so much to think of and buy. On a separate note, I started working on my story, A Second Life, today. I was wondering if someone could point me in a direction to find a beta. I really need someone to look it over for me before I post it. I'll get a summary out soon.


	63. Chapter 63

LL Chapter 63

Boys night

"Video games, pizza, and no girlfriends? Please."

Emmett. I sigh. He is leaning against my car as though he was waiting for me. He looked like hell. He has been sullen, cranky and generally as ass all day. I knew for sure that it was something to do with Rose when Emmett skipped lunch today. Emmett has not skipped lunch at school in thirteen years.

I know that he has decided that the offer to play for Nebraska was too good to pass up and Rose has no desire to go there. He understands. She does too. He does not want her to go with him just for the sake of following him and regretting her college years. She has decided her path is taking her to South Carolina. Bella has plans to meet her dad for dinner after her therapy session tonight so I am free to hang out with Emmett.

Tanya is with Sue today since Dad is not working and she is not picking up and extra shift at the hospital. I hate it when I don't get to see the baby every day. Even if I only get to see her for a minute, I feel better. It is a good thing that Mom and Dad are going out and so is Alice, so that Emmett will talk about whatever it is that has been bugging him all day. Emmett is definitely not the type that goes on about his feelings and problems when a large audience is around. He usually talks to Rose or Jasper. But I have a feeling that if this is not something that he can go to them about, it has to be serious or the kind of topic that you can't discuss with your girlfriends brother. Jasper and I agreed long ago that he would have those talks with Emmett and not me. There are things that I don't want to talk about with my sister's boyfriend. Jasper and Emmett have the same deal.

Emmett is quiet as he rummages through the video games before picking out the boxing one. Mom and Dad aren't gone five minutes before he blurts out, "She wants us to see other people," and then sinks down on the couch dropping the controllers.

I am too shocked to really comprehend what he just said to me, "What?"

"When we leave for college, she wants us to be free to see other people."

"Rose wants to break up with you?"

"See, that is where she has confused me. She doesn't want to break up completely but she figures that both of us will be alone and meeting new people and getting drunk at parties and if we have an arrangement now, there won't be any guilt or hurt feelings. Which is total bullshit, right? Because, if I slept with anyone else I would sure as hell feel guilty and her feelings would be hurt."

"And if she did—"

"I'd want to kill the guy. You are so damn lucky you and Bella don't have to worry about this shit."

"But she does have a point about the parties, drinking, and loneliness."

"I know. I hate to admit it she's right because what if she meets someone and I lose her completely? Maybe I should forget about Nebraska and football and follow her to South Carolina."

"Emmett, don't give up your dreams because you're scared. Rosalie doesn't want you to do that."

"I know."

"You two will figure it out somehow. Just like Alice and Jasper. At least you and Rose can travel to visit each other every occasionally. It is going to be impossible for Alice to get back to the states at all, even at the holidays. They are planning to rely on Skype to talk and see each other."

"I know you're right. Do you think they'll make it?"

"Yeah. I think they will make it. I think that you and Rose will too. If you want it enough, you will find a way to make it work."

Emmett tosses his half-eaten box of pizza on the table, stands up, and starts pacing through the living room, "I'm terrified. I'm terrified that she is going to meet someone and I am going to end up losing her to someone smarter, with more class, and that is actually going be there every day."

"Have you considered that that is her fear too? That she will lose you to some girl you meet in Nebraska. You know as well as I do that Rose acts out of self-preservation first and foremost and everyone else be damned. "

"That is not entirely true or fair. You know that she would defend any of us to the death if we needed her to. She is the most loyal and dependable person that I have ever met. All you need to do is ask her to have your back and she will. Even if her self-confidence needs a little boost every once in a while."

"And there is your answer isn't it."

"Damn. You are good. What she really needs is time, faith, and communication. I can do that. I cannot however even consider that I would have sex with anyone else, drunk or not."

"People make stupid decisions when drunk Emmett. Ask Jessica. She can give you a long list of things she did that she now regrets doing." Emmett nodded and grabbed his box of pizza inhaling the remaining half. I pick up the salad that I had ordered and eat it.

'Why are the hell are you eating rabbit food instead of pizza?" I explain to him the deal I made with Bella and he voices the same assessment that Jasper had at lunch. Bella has me wrapped around her little finger and totally owns me. I have to agree with both them. We play video games for the next couple of hours before he heads home and thankfully acting more like my best friend than when he arrived.

Tomorrow, Mom, Dad, Alice and Jasper are driving up to Port Angeles to get work on getting Alice's passport and student visa settled. As my girlfriend and I are making plans to move away together, my sister and friends are preparing to go off on their own. I know at this point, that whether or not Bella and I share a room I am lucky enough that I will have her with me and I will get to see her every day.

A/N:

It's still Tuesday right? LOL! It's been a hard week. If you follow me on twitter you know my son is in the process of preparing to start high school next year and we have been attending open houses recently. The government teacher tonight made the mistake of pointing out that my baby will be old enough to vote in the next presidential election. The man almost died. Plus I just found out one of his music coaches has secured his quartet a place to perform at the largest flower show in town at the end of the month. See you on Friday.

Do you think Rose's concerns are valid?


	64. Chapter 64

LL Chapter 64

Packing

I had my suitcase out on the bed and Emmett talking my ear off. He was lying on the bed next my suit case going on and on about Nebraska. He was going to fly out to Nebraska in a couple weeks to meet with the coaches and tour the campus. Bella, Jasper, and I had scheduled ourselves a tour like that.

"It is going to be so boring around here this weekend without you guys. There is going to be nothing to do." Emmett had been really whiny about our trip to California since he found out that Rose's parents were insisting that she go with us. They thought it would be a good way to have some family time. But that meant that we were essentially leaving Emmett to his own devises for a long weekend and that could be dangerous.

"Angela isn't going. Hang out with her."

"Yeah, because Rose isn't insecure enough about our relationship withstanding a four year separation; I really want to spend the first weekend away from her hanging out with another girl, especially a girl who can't stop lusting after another girl's boyfriend."

"You have a point. Wait. Is that why Angela hasn't been hanging around us much lately?"

"She's around. She's just trying to avoid seeing you and Bella being all cute and couply. Rose keeps telling her to get over it already. "

"Does Bella know about this? I thought they were friends?"

"They're kinda friends. A friendly acquaintance is what Rose calls it."

"What does that mean?"

"I think it means that they are polite and friendly and have some kind of agreement not to start throwing punches over you. I think it came close a few times"

"Dear God! The girl is totally delusional. How come no one told me about this?"

"Hey! _I _only know because we caught Angela watching you in the school parking lot. Rose told her to grow up and get a life."

"Should I be worried about this?"

"Not stalker type watching. It was more of cross-eyed, staring, and drooling over you kind of thing."

"Ok. That is too pathetic. So what are you going to do this weekend?"

"I don't know. Hey, the chief isn't going with you. Maybe I'll hang out and harass and annoy him this weekend."

"He still hasn't forgiven you for those text messages you sent Bella. He is either going to shoot you or throw your butt in jail!"

Emmett shrugged laid there quietly for a bit watching me throw more clothes into my bag before getting up and heading for the door, "I better go. I'm a good boy who has school in the morning while you losers are blowing off your education for a trip to the beach."

"Jealous much?"

"Whatever. You're going to miss me next year when I am in Nebraska and you are stuck sharing a room with Jasper. He snores by the way."

"First of all, I just may be sharing a room with Bella. At least I hope I will. Second, I'll totally be thinking of you in January when you are dressed like an Eskimo trying not to freeze your ass off while running from class to class and I am lying in my hammock in the warm California sun." He laughed as he flipped me off as he left my room.

I finished packing and moved my suitcase and carryon and moved everything down by the front door just as Mom had requested. She wanted us to be packed and ready to go to eliminate stress in the morning.

I wished that we were going to be carpooling up to Seattle in the morning but the parents nixed that idea. It made more sense to them if we all just met at the airport instead of ending up taking a bunch of cars and starting a bunch of arguments over who was riding with who. But I would get to sit with Bella and Tanya on the plane.

The final decision was that we were going fly out Thursday morning and not return until Sunday night. We were, hopefully, going to sign the lease and then visit some furniture stores and get ideas of what styles everyone like. We knew that since we has so many personalities we were going to be squeezing into the house we were all going to have to compromise some. Leah and Jessica had apparently gotten together and they knew exactly how they wanted to decorate their bedroom.

I didn't want to pressure Bella but she was going to have to may a decision soon about what she wanted to do. Jasper and I needed to know what our sleeping arrangements were going to be.

When I got back upstairs to my room and grabbed my phone and called Bella. When she answered I could hear Tanya crying in the background, "What's wrong with her? Is she sick?"

"No. She's just mad because apparently she didn't want a bath tonight. She started a screaming fit the minute I took her into the bathroom."

"Mean mommy. Making her be all clean."

"I know. I am just horrible aren't I?"

"Really though, are you ok?" I knew that it bothered when Tanya threw a fit because of something like this. It made Bella feel guilty, like she had done something wrong when she hadn't. Bella knew that she was an excellent mother. We all told her that all the time.

"I'm fine," She sighed, "nothing some aspirin won't help with."

"I could come over and help."

"That's ok. Everyone here has tried. She usually settles for Dad but she is determined to be angry tonight."

"I'm sorry sweetheart. I really do wish that I could help."

"It fine, Edward. But, I just remember your offer in a few months when we are living with you and she throws one of these epic fits."

"I am well aware of what I'm getting into here Bella. Plus, I have been warned by several people that the toddler stage doesn't get much better when she learns the word no."

"Ugh. The terrible two's. Sue said that Leah was an absolute nightmare at that stage. She said that she had regretted teaching her how to walk and talk."

"I bet she still regrets that some days!"

_"Edward!"_

__"What it's true. Sometimes she can be mean sometimes. I will admit that she scares me sometimes."

"I know, but she only attacks when provoked."

We hung up a few minutes later after Tanya finally wore herself out and fell asleep. I was still lying awake a couple of hours later. I was unable to turn my brain off because I was so excited about this trip. I felt like a kid on Christmas that knew he was going to get the best present ever from Santa in the morning.

A/N:

It's Friday the 13th. I am shocked that I actually got this done. This has not been the best week for me. The other day it was snowing and since I walk through underground tunnels to get from my office to my covered parking garage I didn't bother to change out of my heels after work. Yeah. The garage but there is open spaces where snow gets in and I slipped on ice and twisted my leg. PSA: don't wear heels when it is snowing! This morning I walked out the door to take my son to the bus and go to work and I missed a step and fell down a flight of cement stairs. My already injured leg took the brunt of the fall. Plus I managed to hurt my arm in the fall. I think I may have used it to attempt to break the fall. I am in a lot of pain. So I am sitting at my desk at work with my leg propped up on an open drawer of one of my file cabinets eating Nutella by the spoonful and listening to the Breaking Dawn Score. Did I mention that the little light indicating that I had a tire with low pressure was on this morning too? But I will worry about that tomorrow when it is warmer and I have three teenagers to help me.

There should be another update Tuesday barring any more catastrophes or injuries. I started the outtake for the Juvenile Diabetes Compilation. I am already at 1000 words and I just hit the point where Charlie's outtake left off! I think you guys will like where I went with it.


	65. Chapter 65

LL Chapter 65

They are going to kill us

I heard them before I saw them approaching me. Hell, the whole airport could hear them. For some reason Tanya was screaming her head off again. She sounded as angry as she had last night. Poor Bella looked like she was at her wits end trying to carry her and calm her down at the same time. There were tears in her eyes as she struggled with the baby. Even Sue and Leah looked frazzled and ready to scream. Seth had ear buds in his ears; I presume that he had the music turned up high enough to drown out Tanya's wailing.

"She's been like this all morning, except when we were driving. She slept when we were driving up here." I looked around at the people around us as I grabbed Tanya from Bella to give her a break. It was the first time that I had ever been out with Bella and Tanya or even Tanya by myself that I have received such dirty looks from people around us. I was sure that it wasn't just the screaming fit Tanya was having that was causing people to look at us that way.

I knew they were looking at Bella and I with a baby and judging us. Who were they to judge us anyways? They didn't know anything about the situation. They knew nothing about our situation. I felt Jasper put his hand on my shoulder and whisper to me to let it go. Bella did not need to get any more upset than she already was at the moment. He was right as always.

Luckily, Dad returned from the bathroom, took the screaming baby from me and asked Sue what was going on. Sue was sure that Tanya had an ear infection from teething and was hoping that Dad would call in a prescription for amoxicillin for us to pick up in Los Angeles. After a brief look at Tanya's ears and mouth he agreed that that was indeed what was wrong. Thank God there was a store in the airport that happened to carry infants Tylenol. Dad assured us that it was not only safe for her but safer for us to take a sleeping baby onboard rather than a screaming one.

Tanya was out in a matter of minutes so we left her in Mom and Dad's capable hands and along with Alice and Jasper, we went in search of something to drink. Since we didn't have much time before we were going to be boarding the plane Bella and I opted to share a herbal tea while Jasper shared a coffee with my sister. I warned him that if he gave her caffeine, he was going to take full responsibility for the aftermath that would ensue. Alice never could handle caffeine in any amount.

By the time we made it halfway back to the gate it, they were calling us to board so we literally had to run for it. That was it for the adventures and mishaps for the flight down to Los Angeles for us. Jessica was currently holding the baby while I was holding a sleeping Bella in my arms and talking to Jasper about what had happened earlier in the airport. He reminded me in some not to kind words that I too had judged Bella for being a teen mom before I got to know her or her situation. He was right. I had been so wrong and horrible to her in the beginning that it was a wonder she ever forgave me and was able to love me at all.

My parents surprised me when we got to the hotel by handing Bella and I keys to the same room. I had been under the impression that I was going to share with Jasper.

"You were, Edward, but while you and Bella were off getting something to drink at the airport your mom, Sue, and I had a little chat. We figure since you are going to be adult enough, in a few short months, to live with Bella and help her raise her daughter you should see what that really means. You cannot just walk off and leave her to care for a sick child alone just because it isn't your child. When you live with someone, you have to take the good and bad days."

"I know dad and this won't be this first time I've stayed with Bella with Tanya being sick. She caught that cold the night of the fundraiser. I wonder why she gets sick every time we go away?"

"Welcome to parenthood Edward. What can go wrong with kids will go wrong."

We spent the next couple of hours getting settled into our rooms and while everyone else went out for lunch, Bella and I ordered in room service and waited for the pharmacy to deliver Tanya's medicine.

Tanya was sleeping peacefully again when we made it to the house we wanted to rent for our tour and meeting with the landlord. The house was great. It was everything that we needed and wanted. Bella and I marveled at the size of the back yard. I told her my idea of lying on a hammock and making out, if we ever got a moment or two to ourselves. She seemed to really like that idea.

She was talking with the other women about the color scheme for the living room furniture and dishes when I wandered off to look at the rest of the house again. I was standing in the master bedroom looking out the picture window of the view of the back yard when Bella came into the room and wrapped her arms around me, "I've been thinking about this and after talking to my therapist and Dad, I know that I am making the right decision for me and for my daughter. I want to live with you for real. I ready to be an adult and be in an adult relationship and I want to do that with you."

"I promise you I will never do anything to hurt you again."

"Again?"

"I was so horrible to you when you first came to Forks. I am so lucky that you forgave me."

"Luck had nothing to do with it. Once you decided to pull your head out of your ass, you showed me that you were a great guy. Since then, you have been absolutely amazing not only to me but my daughter. You love her so much. I know, I mean I absolutely know that you would never hurt us intentionally. Besides, do you know how many girls at school are jealous as hell that you chose to date me?"

"Shut up!"

"It's true."

"You're crazy. But I love you anyway."

"I love you too."

A/N:

Hello. Happy Tuesday. I have to go back to work tomorrow after a four day weekend and I don't want to! Next update should be Friday. I should be ready to post my new story this weekend. It is called A Second Life and I will post a summary with the Friday update of this story. It won't be a terribly long story. If you want a tease of it, drop me a review.


	66. Chapter 66

LL Chapter 66

"Is that all she's wearing?"

I really didn't care how they decorated the living room as long as it wasn't all pink or anything like that. I heard Jessica telling Jasper that they were going with a "Hello Kitty" theme for the kitchen. I told him they were just joking. At least I hope they were just joking.

After the women were finally done with their decorating plans, we made our way next door to where the landlords lived to sign the lease. All of the parents were relieved that they lived just next door and would be around to watch us. Not that they thought we were going to be having parties or anything like that. They were just parents sending their kids off on their own for the first time and were nervous about us being safe so far from home.

The landlords, James and Victoria Walker were a nice older couple in their late sixties. They were never able to have children and they were really taken by Tanya. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to get her back from Victoria when we were asked when we were planning to actually move in. I told them that I honestly hadn't thought of that yet. So, I turned to Bella to see what her thoughts were on this.

"Well, I don't want to wait too long into the summer before we move. I want to have the house set up, be completely unpacked and settled in before school starts in the fall. I also want some time to relax and get to know the area and let Tanya get used to her new surrounds before the chaos of the school year begins."

"I have an idea," Dad spoke up looking excited about his plan, "Why don't you two move down at the beginning of June when Alice leaves for France? Then your mom and I will get our house back and the peace, quiet, and privacy that comes with it, that we've missed for the eighteen years, a couple of months earlier than we hoped."

"Oh Yes! The idea of no teenagers running through the house and annoying I can't wait." Mrs, Hale piped in with a sigh.

"You two are lucky. Charlie and I are stuck with this one," she pointed to Seth, "for another three years."

"Jeez, guys. You make us feel so loved and wanted," Jasper griped in a tone of complete sarcasm.

"All kidding aside though, you too should move down in June but leave Tanya with us for a couple weeks," Sue suggested in a tone that told me that the adults had already discussed this amongst themselves.

"You want me to leave her for two whole weeks!" I seriously thought Bella was going to start hyperventilating at the thought.

"You are going to be so busy unpacking, receiving the furniture deliveries, and doing last minute shopping to set up the house you are going to be grateful to not have t worry about her. It's exhausting enough without adding an infant to your list of duties."

"Not to mention baby proofing the house."

"Baby proofing?"

"Yes! Tanya is going to be crawling by the time you move in and you are going to need to make sure that she can't get into any trouble."

"I'll think about it. But if we do go that route, how will we get her to California?"

"Well, none of us want any one of you kids to drive down here in a car alone. So we thought that you and Edward would come down first in his car and then we would bring her and your car down two weeks later when Leah comes down. Seth has his learner's permit he can help drive a little. Then Jasper and Jessica could follow a couple of weeks after that in his car."

"No offense to Seth, but I don't feel too comfortable with my daughter being in a car that he is driving. It's nothing personal Seth, its just that you don't have a license or much—"

"—Experience. Yeah. I get that. I don't think that I would be comfortable driving with her in the car. I have a hard enough time relaxing with Mom or Charlie with me."

"We'll figure out seating charts later." With that, we signed the lease and left the Walker's to enjoy the rest of their afternoon.

After a quick dinner, Bella and I decided that we were going to head back to the hotel with Tanya because she was getting cranky again. It took a good two hours to get her to calm down and go to sleep.

We were both exhausted but neither of us was ready to go to sleep. So we decided to order a movie from the hotel's On Demand network and watch it in bed. I clearly wasn't thinking of the realty of that idea until I saw her pull out her nightgown. It was nothing but an oversized T-shirt. I watched, waiting for her to pull out sweat pants or shorts or a pant of any kind to put on with it but there was nothing. She wasn't really planning on getting in bed with me with naked legs? Was she?

I took my eyes off of the shirt that she was holding a looked at her face. She was blushing and looked a little panicky herself. She hadn't planned on sharing a room with me tonight. She had planned to share a room with her sister, not me. In an effort to stall getting into that bed, I decided that a shower was definitely needed.

When I finally emerged from the bathroom, she was sitting on the bed with that shirt thing in her hand. As I crossed the room she jumped up and ran into the bathroom without a word.

I sighed and checked on the baby who was sleeping peacefully. The medicine must have started to kick in. I looked at the bed and realized I was being a bit ridiculous. It wasn't as if we were planning on doing anything right now. It wasn't going to be long before we were doing this every night. In fact, it was literally only three months from now.

I was lying in bed and flipping through channels when Bella finally came out of the bathroom. I looked over and took in the sight of her from head to toe. Her long, dark, wet, hair was falling over her shoulders, the T-shirt was tight enough it hugged her breasts, and it was so short it barely covered her butt.

"I don't know why I feel so nervous about this. We've done this before."

"Yeah. But that time you didn't have naked legs like you do tonight."

"Yeah. I wish I'd brought yoga pants or something."

"Bella? Do you normally sleep in something like that?"

"Yes."

"Then shouldn't we get used to sleeping next each other and in the pajamas we feel comfortable in?"

"I guess."

I lifted the covers and motioned for her to climb in bed, "I don't want your naked legs to get cold."

"Just my naked legs? Don't you care about the rest of me?" She giggled.

"I love all of you but your legs are all I can seem to think about at the moment. I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"You didn't. My therapist keeps telling me that I need to let go of my fear of being intimate. She says that unless I learn let go and trust, to allow myself to be in a position of vulnerability, no adult relationship I try will last."

"Is that why you decided to share a room with me instead of having your own room?"

"Yes. I trust you. I know you won't hurt me and I love you. I am not going to let a fear of a past that has nothing to do with you, hold me back from moving forward with you. It's been over a year now and if I don't let it go, I will never be able to grow and move beyond it. Plus, Dad said that if I went the route of separate rooms I was just hiding and pretending and it would be a coward's decision. And he didn't raise his daughter to be a coward. "

I wrapped my arm around her and settled in to watch the movie until we both fell asleep. Of course our peaceful slumber would be short lived. It wasn't long before Tanya was up and letting us know that her new tooth was bothering her again.

A/N:

Poor innocent Edward and Bella with her naked legs taunting him. He may be dreaming of getting her in his bed naked but the reality makes him nervous. Next update will be Tuesday. I will post my new story "A Second Life" sometime this weekend.

Here is the summary: What would you do if the man by your side is no longer the man you fell in love with. What if that man had died months ago, he just didn't know it. When your life is at a crossroads, which way do you turn?

It is all human and Edward/Bella.

Thanks for reading! 


	67. Chapter 67

LL Chapter 67

Morning

I had no clue where I was when I woke up all I really knew was that I was not alone in bed. There was a tiny little hand on my face. I opened on eye and saw Tanya sleeping between Bella and I. I looked at the clock and realized that I had only fallen asleep a couple of hours ago. I hadn't meant to. When did I even lie down on the bed anyways? The last thing I could remember I was walking with Tanya while Bella was curled up in the chair trying to stay awake.

Fully awake now, I realized that my hand was resting on Bella's hip and her's was on my butt. I had to stifle a laugh at how we had ended up like this. I carefully got up off the bed, trying not to wake them, and put my pillow behind Tanya and hoped that she wouldn't fall of the bed.

I stood there for minute watching I two beautiful girls sleeping before going into the bathroom and starting the shower. I lingered in the shower hoping that the hot water would efficiently wake me up, but I was too sleep deprived for it to really work.

I stumbled back out of the bathroom to find Bella was awake and ordering breakfast from room service, "What did you get us?"

"Egg white vegetable omelets, dry wheat toast, apple juice, and oatmeal for Tanya but if you wanted something different I can change it. You don't really have to follow the same diet as I do Edward, it really isn't necessary."

"I know I don't have to, I want to." We were interrupted by a whimper from the bed and I went to get her while Bella got dressed for the day.

An hour later, after we had finished our breakfast and washed all of the oatmeal out of Tanya's hair Bella was getting ready to leave to meet everyone else in the lobby. I was going to stay behind to watch Tanya so we weren't dragging a fussy baby in and out of stores all day. Bella was just getting her jacket on to leave when there was a knock on the door.

I was surprised to find Mr. Hale standing there when I answered it, "Hey kids. Carlisle and I thought we'd babysit today while you guys go shopping."

"Really? You don't want to go?"

"Edward, I learned a long time ago that when it came to my wife's shopping habits it was healthier to live in ignorance until the credit card bill came in. You two go have fun. We'll be in Carlisle and Esme's suite. He ran out to the pharmacy for a minute but he'll be right back. That is, as long as you feel comfortable leaving her with me?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine with Mr. Hale and Dad," I said as I starting grabbing Tanya's stuff and throwing it in her bag. I loved her but Bella and I had been stuck in this hotel room with her all night last night and I really wanted to get out of here. Sure I had been the one to insist that Bella go and leave Tanya with me for the day but after two nights in a row of being up all night with a crying baby, I just thought she needed a break. Besides, who were we to turn down free babysitting and a chance to shop for our first home together…well…together.

Bella was still laughing at my excitement at getting to go shopping when we got onto the elevator. I was not about to stand there and endure my girlfriend laughing at me so I fought back. I grabbed waist, pulled her to me, and stopped her from laughing by kissing her.

I quickly found out why it was that Dad and Mr. Hale volunteered to stay with a sick baby rather than furniture shop with us. This was insane. I was exhausted and frustrated and we were still at the first shop trying to pick out a sofa. This one was too large, that one too small. When the hell did we decide to move in with the three little bears? Don't even get me started on Mom snapping at me that the one I like had too much white for a house with a baby in it. I wasn't alone in being yelled at. Sue got upset when he pointed out a red sofa with yellow flowers. Apparently both the colors red and yellow represent anger and you should avoid bringing them into a room. I'll tell you what should be avoided, furniture shopping with opinionated women like the ones we were with.

Jessica had been basically just following us quietly. I knew that she was trying not to overstep since Mom was insisting on paying for the living room furniture. The Hales were covering the dining room and Sue and Charlie agreed to outfit the kitchen with all of the appliances that we may need. Everyone was going to be responsible for their own bedrooms. But I knew that she felt guilty that she was not contributing more to the household. I nudged Bella as I watched Jessica wander away from us and stop a couple of rows over and sit down. Bella grabbed my hand and we wandered over to where Jess was only to find her sitting on an overstuffed navy blue couch with these oversized brown and lime green pillows. I sat down, pulling Bella with me. Rose plopped down next to us and threw her feet up over our legs, "This is perfect. I can totally see myself sleeping on this when I come to visit for the weekend or the summer."

After we got the sofa and chairs decided on then we had a great debate over a coffee table. How was I supposed to know that you shouldn't have a glass one or one with sharp corners around a kid either?

I swear I thought we were all ready to mutiny and walk out by the time we picked out the dining room set. That is when Mom thankfully suggested that we got get lunch and take a break before we looked at beds. I was all for that. We found an Olive Garden near the furniture store. The first thing that Mom did was order a bottle of wine for the adults to share but damn if I didn't want to grab that bottle and pour myself a glass or two. I briefly wandered how fast they'd be able to catch me if I grabbed the bottle and ran off with it?

P.S.

Poor Edward should have realized something was up when his dad and Mr. Hale took the sick baby over shopping with their wives. One of those been there…done that…not doing it again things. My mom can compare two sofas that look the same to me for hours. But the poor boy was up all night with the baby. See you on Friday!


	68. Chapter 68

LL Chapter 68

More Shopping

Have you ever gone shopping for the bed that you would be sleeping with your girlfriend on? Did you go with your mother, her step mother, and sister, and brother, and your own sister standing beside you? I did and I will never do that again. That was supremely awkward for both of us. Especially when we were trying to decide what size bed we wanted and what style of headboard would be best and one of them would stick in their opinion.

There was a relatively small debate over safety issues with headboards and babies when Bella pointed out a wrought iron one. First, she could fall and hurt herself on the metal. Then it was she could get her head stuck between the bars. It wasn't as if she was going to be sleeping with us every night. At least, I hoped she wouldn't be. I know that kids do sometimes end up in their parent's bed, but that was only occasional, right? I know that I rarely went to sleep in my parent's bed.

We finally decided on one that wasn't apt to hurt Tanya in any way. It was called a sleigh bed that was made out of cherry wood. The only thing that I really cared about was that Bella and I were happy with it. We were the ones that would have to look at it and sleep on it every night. I felt that our opinions were the only ones that really mattered on this decision. Well, I guess Mom and Sue did have some right to speak up since they were paying for it.

Picking out the bedroom furniture took up the better part of the afternoon. Once all of buying was done and delivery was set for the week when Bella and I would be here by ourselves we returned to the hotel. We were all going to go our separate ways tonight. The Hales were going out to dinner andAlicewas going with them. Mom and Dad were taking off on their own. Jessica was going on and on about room service and a bubble bath.

When we went to retrieve Tanya from my parent's suite we found a happy baby that had a purple mouth and purple hands. "What did she get into?" Bella exclaimed.

"We gave her a Popsicle. I didn't think about it until this morning. So I ran to the store and found some Pedialyte popsicles to help her feel better. She really likes the grape ones."

"That would have really helped us last night, Dad."

"Here's a key to the suite since we have a kitchen and you don't. Remember, if you give her one, you have to really watch her closely though. You don't want a chunk to break off and have her choke on it."

We collected everything and went to back to our room to get ready to leave. It took awhile to get the purple off Tanya's hands. Once she was clean and changed, we took off to spend some time with just the three of us.

After dinner at a restaurant close to the hotel I ran back up to our room and grabbed Tanya's car seat while Bella and Tanya waved down a cab. Once we were all buckled in and the stroller was packed in the trunk, we headed off forHollywoodand the Walk of Fame.

We spent a couple of hours strolling around, looking at the stars on the ground, and popping into stores to look around. Bella got especially over excited when she found Johnny Depp's star. I had no idea that she was that big of a Pirates fan. When I mentioned that, she corrected me by telling me that she was a big Johnny fan. She loved everything he had been in which started a huge debate over who made a better Willy Wonka; Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp. I maintained that Depp's Wonka was too strange and creepy. Bella argued that that is the way the character was actually written so that is what made Depp's version better. She laughed at my enthusiasm at finding Jackie Chan's star. But I didn't really care. Tanya was feeling better and I had the two them to myself for the evening and we were exploring the city we would call home for at least the next for years.

Among the shops that we went into was a bookstore that specialized in rare, used, and collectible books. It was hard not to spend the rest of the night in there looking around. But after we each found a couple of books that we were interested, we paid and left, promising each other that we would come back after we moved here in June.

The cab ride back to the hotel was a quiet one. We were all tired and I know that I was having a hard time staying awake. Tanya was fast asleep by the entered our room. Bella put her down in the port a crib while I collapsed on the bed. I heard Bella moving around the room and then she disappeared into the bathroom.

She came back out a few minutes later wearing nothing but that T-shirt again. She was going to kill me with that by the time the weekend was over. I dragged myself off the bed and into the bathroom to get ready for bed myself. When I came back out Bella was curled up in bed and sound asleep already.

I crawled into bed as quietly as I could and tried to settle in. But I just could not get comfortable at all. There was this pull for me to scoot over, wrap my arms around Bella, and hold her while she was sleeping. I was so conflicted over whether or not I should just give in and do it or not. Bella was asleep and I had no way of knowing whether or not she would get mad at me for being so…so…well presumptuous. But on the other hand, I had woken up this morning with her sleeping close to me and had her hand on me.

I was still laying there debating when Bella solved the problem for me. Without even waking up, she rolled over and tucked herself into my side. I loved the feeling of just holding her like this. It felt so right, so perfect, to have her in my arm and in my bed. I sighed, closed my eyes and let myself drift off to sleep.

A/N:

Happy Friday and Happy Birthday to me! I am taking a half day off work and going out to lunch at Chipotle. I really wanted to let them do a tiny bit more than just cuddle in bed, but the baby is in the room and I just couldn't do it. Besides, they were very tired. LOL! I love Depp but I prefer Wilder's Wonka.

It probably isn't really advisable to give a six month old a popsicle but when my son was teething (and he turns 14 this spring) all the mothers in my family told me to do it. Just make sure that I was paying attention that he didn't choke on it. They said none of their kids liked the teething rings. In their opinions, it was the taste factor. I am by no means suggesting that anybody give a baby a Popsicle.

Thank you for reading.

I have a rec this time. It's called "A change in direction" by Jayeiwood

Summary: I had been out of work for so long and I had no idea what I was going to do next. Things aren't going the way I thought they would when I finished college. Sometimes you just have to go in the direction life takes you, and pray for the best...

Link: http:/www(.)fanfiction(.)net/s/7631766/1/A_Change_in_Direction


	69. Chapter 69

Chapter 69

Last Day

The rest of the weekend went a lot smoother. We decided that it might just be best to buy everything else back home and Bella and I would pack it in my car and drive it down when we came. Besides Bella and I were still talking about how we wanted to decorate our room. Our room. It was still so strange to say that.

Today we were taking our campus tour. We left Tanya back at the hotel with Leah and Jessica so that she wouldn't distract us from all the information they were going to be throwing at us.

I knew that UCLA was a big school but I didn't know it was that big. Man, the whole day was a project in information overload. I doubted any of us would ever remember where any of the buildings were without resorting to looking at the maps they gave us. The building where the architecture school was and the law school were right across from each other while the medical center was basically across campus. Bella pointed out that they would all have to take the same general education courses first before they really got into their specialties. That was something I guess. I wanted to at least get to take one class with Bella.

The two students they had giving the tour were quite nice and obviously trained to be able to answer just about any question or least who to go to find the answer before the tour was over. Before we left we were each given a packet of information to take with us.

We were all silent as we drove back to the hotel. Bella and I immediately went to get Tanya from Leah and Jessica. They had just laid her down for a nap so she was going to be out for a while. After our sitters left to return to their room Bella and I got into the bed. I had the hopes of getting a little nap in myself. Bella apparently had the same idea as she curled into my side.

I leaned down, kissed her forehead, and told her that I loved her. I looked over to the dresser to see our packets of information that were still unopened. There was still a lot that we had to do but for now, for right this minute the only thing that mattered was her, holding each other and drifting off to sleep and me.

I was cruelly awoken a couple of hours later by someone jumping onto the bed. I didn't need to open my eyes to know that it wasn't Bella; I still had her in my arms. I would also recognize my sister's giggle anywhere, "How did you get in here?"

"I stole Bella's keycard."

"_Why_ are you in here?" Bella's voice startled both of us.

"Because it's almost dinner time and you two need to get up and get moving. The rest of us are hungry."

I wanted to drag my sister and throw here out the door. But Bella was awake enough to get the key card back from her first. I grabbed a fresh outfit from my suitcase and sat down on the bed to change as watched as Bella slipped into the bathroom. I wondered briefly if there would be a time that we would be comfortable changing in front of each other. Then I had to wonder why we were still hiding from each other. I got up, walked over to the bathroom door and knocked.

"I'll be out in a minute!" She called out.

"Will open the door for me Bella. I need to ask you something important." She opened the door a second later with a towel wrapped around her.

"What do you need?"

"Can I have a kiss?"

"What?" She was perplexed at the fact that I was now smirking.

"I want a kiss."

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now."

"This couldn't wait until I was dressed?"

"Nope. Speaking of that. I remember an instance where you got to see me naked. I was wondering when you were going to return the favor." That got her blushing. "Please?" I whispered as I backed her to the wall, leaned in, and kissed her. "Please?" I whispered again, "take off that towel for me."

She reached up with trembling hands and let the towel drop to the floor. I kissed her again and reached my hand up to her face. I looked at her face, realizing her eyes were scrunched shut, "It's ok Bella. I won't touch you anywhere else besides your face. Do you want me to leave now?"

"No." She whispered.

I nodded and looked down at her body. She was so beautiful in this pale pink bra and underwear set. She looked me, reached up with her still trembling hands and took mine in hers. With our eyes still locked on each other's she moved my hand from her face and started moving it down to her chest. "Are you sure you're ok with this?" I asked. I had to be sure that neither of us were pushing her too far too fast.

"I'm sure. I've wanted to do this for a while now. I just didn't know how to bring it up." I started moving my hand and I was just about to move the bra strap down so I could really touch here when a shrill scream sounded from the other room. Both of us groaned as we realized that the baby was now awake and demanding our attention. I backed away from her. I had just started to turn to go to Tanya when Bella grabbed me and kissed me, "we will continue that soon. Right?"

"As soon as possible." I promised her.

I then went out and grabbed Tanya out of the portable crib, "You have really bad timing there sweetheart." Bella must have heard me from the bathroom because she started laughing.

I dressed Tanya and had just finished putting her shoes on her when Bella emerged from the bathroom. She was wearing a dress. Fuck! Her legs were naked again. I groaned when I realized that I was going to have to be around her naked legs all night. This girl was seriously trying to kill me today.

A/N:

Happy Tuesday! Kids are the best cock blockers aren't they! LOL! But they took a baby step forward. I usually write things for a reason and small things may come back to be a big detail later on. See you Friday!;


	70. Chapter 70

LL Chapter 70

Home Again

I just couldn't get comfortable. I kept tossing and turning, trying to lay on one side then the other. I tried to lie on my back. Then I tried to lie on my stomach. None of it was working and I just could not get to sleep. I looked over at my alarm, realized that it was already two the morning and I gave up from there. I turned on the TV in my room and hoped that some infomercial would lull me to sleep. It finally did, an hour and a half later.

I had to force myself to get out of bed when my alarm went off. All I wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep all day but there was no way that I could miss another day of school. There was no way that my parents were going to allow me to miss another day of school even if I was a straight A student and was in for a day of complete boredom.

I felt a little better after a shower but not a whole lot. I made it to the kitchen and went to pour myself a cup of coffee. "OOOHHH! I'm going to tell Bella!" Shit. I can't have the coffee. There have been many times in my life that I have wished I could be an only child. This is one of those times. I put the coffee pot back and sank into a chair at the table, lying my head down on my arms. "Have trouble getting to sleep without your girlfriend in bed with you?"

"Yeah, right," I glared at her as she sat, "I just had a bad night." Surely, I couldn't have gotten attached to sleeping with Bella after just a couple of nights. The idea was just plain ridiculous.

It was Monday so Bella was driving herself to school so she could go to her therapy appointment after school. Her car was not in the lot when I got there and I was really hoping that she was just running late and would be coming to school today. It was going to be a crappy day anyway but if she wasn't here then there was going to be no hope for it.

It was raining, which did nothing but make my bad mood worse, so we all went to the library to wait for school to start. I tried calling Bella a couple of times when she failed to show up before school started but she didn't answer. I was relieved when she walked into Physics. "Where have you been and why didn't you answer when I called?"

"Do you own me now or something?"

"No-I was just—"

"You were just what? I was just busy trying to get ready for school and I was already running late. I'm _so sorry_ I couldn't drop everything take your call. I do have other responsibilities you know."

"I know that," snapped at her, "IF you had let me finish what I was saying instead of cutting me off and jumping down my throat, I was saying I was just worried about you, we all were. It is not like you to be running late."

She didn't get a chance to respond before the bell rang and we had to take notes. Having missed two days of classes, we were both going to be drowning in homework by the end of the day.

At the end of class, we talked to the teacher about making up our assignments and then Bella bolted out of the classroom without waiting for me. I never got to tell her that Rose and I needed to spend our lunch in the library doing research for an English paper that was due in a couple of days.

She was gone for her appointment in Port Angeles by the time I made it to the parking lot. Even Jasper mentioned how irritable Bella was today. I wondered what had happened that had pissed her off to the point that she was taking it out on all of us.

I really wanted to camp out on her porch and wait for her to get home and demand that she tell me what was making her so bitchy but I realized right away that probably wasn't the best idea. One, she'd probably yell at me again, maybe slap me, and two, I really had a lot of homework to do tonight.

It was two in the morning when I finally shut my history book. I was completely exhausted. The only break I had taken since getting home from school was to eat dinner. Alice was in the same boat. I was a little annoyed that Bella didn't call or text me, she always did before she went to sleep. We had both had agreed that it was better for her to do it so I wouldn't accidentally wake up Tanya.

I took a quick shower knowing that I wasn't going to want to get out of bed when my alarm went off in a few hours. When I came out of the bathroom, I collapsed on the bed and fell asleep wearing nothing but my towel.

I groaned when my alarm went off and rolled over to hit the snooze button. Then I ended up hitting a couple more time before I finally got out of bed. As I rushed around getting everything I needed for the day. I grabbed my cell phone and threw it in my bag without even looking at it.

Alice was waiting for me as I ran down the stairs. She took one look at me, smirked, and then she had to open her mouth, "Another sleepless night without the girlfriend?"

"I was doing homework so shut up and if you want a ride, I'm leaving now." She rolled her eyes, but followed me outside.

"Jeez, I am glad I am not living with the two of you next year. I thought it was bad enough that Bella PMSing. I decided to ignore her comment and we drove to Bella's house in silence.

When we got to Bella's she actually seemed surprised to see us.

"Bella, I always pick you up on Tuesday."

"But I yelled at you, then you skipped lunch and you didn't answer when I called. I thought you were mad at me."

"What do you mean, I didn't answer. I never got a call from you last night."

"I called three times." I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and realized that the batteries had died.

"Shit! I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was dead. I thought you were mad at me. You took off after biology without waiting for me."

"I had to use the bathroom Edward. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I was having such a horrible morning." She went on to explain how she woke up to find that her period started early, so she had to change and clean her sheets. Then she found that Tanya's diaper had leaked forcing her to change the sheets in the crib. Then her car had a flat tire. So her dad had to come home and take care of it while Sue drove her to school. They dropped the car off after Charlie had the tire replaced. It was more stress than she needed. Plus her dad and Sue had sat her down the night before and told her that she really needed to talk to her doctors about birth control. Which meant that she had to talk to my dad about it as he was her cardiologist.

"I have to sit with your father and admit that we are even thinking about sex. It's embarrassing to have a talk like that with your boyfriend's father."

"What if your boyfriend went with you for that appointment?" I suggested.

"You'd do that?"

"Bella, as much as I love Tanya. I don't think either one of us wants you to get pregnant again at this stage of our lives."

"No. Definitely not. She hard enough to take care of."

"Tell me when and I will be there."

"I love you Edward. You're the best and I am so sorry I was mean to you."

I kissed her until Alice started making gagging noises from the back seat, reminding us that she was still there.

A/N:

Happy Friday! We are expecting a foot of snow tonight. Just days ago, like Tuesday, it was in the 70's. Rolls eyes. Enjoy and see you on Tuesday.


	71. Chapter 71

LL Chapter 71

Doctors and Dads

Bella had an appointment to see my dad on Wednesday afternoon. I waited until that morning to tell Mom that I wanted to leave school early to attend the appointment with Bella. Mom faltered a little as she handed me the half a grapefruit that was my breakfast. I told her there were a few things that Bella and I needed to discuss with him. I think she knew exactly what it was from the look on her face. She said that she would call the school and tell them that I was leaving early and I wondered whether she was going to call Dad right after that and warn him.

Bella was in a better mood today than she had been for a few days but she was still obviously nervous. We left school right after Calculus and ran over to Bella's. I Bella told me this morning that she had also made an appointment for Tanya at her pediatrician so she didn't have to take off another afternoon from school. It made sense to me. We had already missed enough school. She told me that I didn't have to go to that appointment if I didn't want to but I kind of did. Bella called it a well-baby appointment. I had no idea what that was but it sounded like a good thing.

Walking into Dad's waiting room we found him in the lobby talking one of his other nurses. By the surprise look on his face mom did not call to give him a heads up that I was going to be here. He told us to take a seat and he'd be with us in a minute. We never made to the chairs before the nurses came out to see Sue's granddaughter. They grabbed and took off with her. Dad came out and called us back, joking that a nurse would normally do that but he couldn't find any of them at the moment.

"I wasn't expecting you to be here Edward. Does your mom know you left school early?" 

"Yes. I asked her this morning. She said it was ok. I promised Bella I would be here for this appointment."

"I see. I am assuming that there is a reason you two are looking terrified at the moment? Remember, there is nothing you can't talk to me about. Both of you."

"Well, Dr. Cullen…we needed to think about…uh…oh God, this is so hard."

"We want to talk about birth control and well I was looking up some things on the internet. I read that women who've had a heart attack should not take the pill. Is that right?"

"That's true. I would not suggest that for Bella with her medical history. I would suggest either the depo shot or Mirena."

"What's Mirena?" Bella asked.

"An IUD. Once your OB/GYN puts it in, you shouldn't have to worry about it for about five years. It can also be removed anytime if you two decide that you want to get pregnant."

"And depo is every three months right?"

"Approximately."

"Which one would you recommend would be better for Bella given her medical history?"

"I think the IUD would be the best option. But either of the two would be fine. The final choice is hers."

"Let me get this straight. If she chooses this Mirena thing, we don't have to worry or even think about birth control for five years?" Bella blushed and looked down at the floor. But this sounded like a good option to me.

"Yes. From what I understand it is becoming a popular choice for young women. Look. I don't really want to ask this but have the two of you had sex?"

"No, Dr. Cullen. We haven't"

"Good. I don't think you'll have a problem and sex can be a great cardiovascular workout. If you should start suffering shortness of breath or chest pains you need to stop what you're doing and get to a doctor, ok?"

A great cardiovascular workout? Now we were both blushing. I didn't expect dad to go there with the conversation. We both assured him that we understood and prayed the conversation would turn to something else.

Dad said that he would talk to any GYN that Bella chose about his recommendations. With that out of the way Dad wanted to continue with his exam of Bella. I left the room when a nurse showed up and assisted while he did the physical exam so I wouldn't make her nervous. Besides, I thought it would be best to find out where the nurses were hiding Tanya.

I was sitting in the hall when Dad opened the exam door and told me I could come back in. Dad wanted Bella to increase her exercises and be stricter with her diet. I wanted to ask her what she thought about what Dad said about the birth control but thought it was a conversation better left for when we were alone.

The pediatrician's office was only a couple floors up from Dad's. The wait was a lot longer though. While Bella played with Tanya and kept her entertained, I read a parenting magazine and watched some kid running through the waiting room. He was running around throwing anything he could get his hands on and screaming. He was even grabbing things that didn't belong to him. I saw him grabbing at some woman's purse on the other side and the owner practically had to have a tug of war with him to keep it away from him. What really appalled me is the mother watched him do all of this and never tried to stop him. She thought it was funny. I grabbed our diaper bag and hid it behind my back. That made Bella smile.

The appointment itself was quite interesting. I'd seen babies being weighed and measured before. I had even helped. But in the NICU, it was different. We always had to be aware of the tubes and wires attached to the baby. Tanya was squirming and attempting to roll over and then she peed on the scale. Given the way the doctor laughed and joked it off, that was a common experience around here. The doctor finally declared that Tanya was doing well after being born so premature and that she was a happy and well cared for baby. Then he put his finger in Tanya's mouth and started feeling around, "Looks like there is a new tooth coming in." Bella told him about the ear infection and Dad prescribing antibiotics. I told him about the Pedialyte pops she was given. He said Pediatlyte was a good thing to always keep on hand at her age. Then he inquired about if she was crawling yet. She was close but had yet to take off. He recorded what we told him in his chart and then he looked up at us, "ok. I see Tanya is due for her DTaP, IPV, and PCV. I'll be right back," and he left the room.

"What are those?"

"Her immunizations," Bella answered.

"Immunizations? Like shots?"

"Yes, Edward. She needs shots."

"But isn't that going to hurt her?"

"Yes. It will hurt and she will cry and I will probably have a very long night with her. She is usually very cranky after her shots."

I was started to regret coming along. I didn't want to see Tanya in pain. I was tempted to grab the baby and run with her but the doctor returned before I could do anything.

The doctor uncapped a needle and got the poor, unsuspecting baby right in the thigh. Her little eyes popped open in shock. Then she opened her mouth, took a deep breath and let out the loudest scream I had ever heard coming from her. It made me want to cry for her as the doctor attacked her two more times.

A/N:

It is almost Tuesday right? Poor Edward. And he thought talking to his dad was going to be the hard part. Don't forget I am writing a Bella outtake for Juvenile Diabetes. The link is on my profile.


	72. Chapter 72

LL Chapter 72

Poor Baby

The doctor sent us off with the instruction that Bella could give Tanya some Tylenol if she continued to be fussy or developed a fever. I knew babies got immunizations but I never really thought about it what it was like for the poor baby to endure it. By the look on Tanya's face she was pissed at all of us and she was going to keep reminding us all night.

I asked Bella if she wanted to come to my house to hang out but she said that she would rather have the baby at home where she would have everything she would need. When we made it to her house, Bella ran upstairs to change her clothes and I took the opportunity to call Mom and tell her where I was. Then I took Tanya out of her carrier and put her on her blanket on the floor with some toys. She was still giving me that look that said she was planning her revenge on Bella and me for allowing that man to hurt her.

Bella came back down in sweats, grabbed her book bag from where she had dropped it as she came in the door, and settled onto the floor in front of the couch. When she pulled out her calculus book I joined her so we could get our assignment done together. There were other things that I would have been doing but the baby was still awake. It was actually a good time to talk about the information Dad gave us.

"Any idea which way you are going to go?"

"I think I like the idea of that Mirena. It would be nice not to have to think about it all the time. Like your dad said, we are both going to be busy. I didn't really want the pill anyway; I am scared I'd forget to take it. Besides, your dad seemed to think it was the better option for me too."

"Was it just me or was that the most awkward conversation you've ever had?"

"It definitely ranks up there. I mean, "Sex is good cardio-vascular exercise"? I can't believe he went there."

"I know! I wanted to run from the room."

"Have you made an appointment with a Gynecologist yet?"

"No. Sue is going to make an appointment with her doctor next week."

"Do you want me to go with you for that one too?"

"Oh God no! It's going to be embarrassing enough having to endure a pelvic exam without an audience."

"I think you're right, you'll be fine handling that one on your own."

"I am getting nowhere on this right now." She sighed shutting her book and looking around me to check on Tanya, "and she is fast asleep." I looked over to see Tanya was lying on her side still clutching the stuffed dog I gave her. That made me smile. Bella got up to put a movie in for us to watch while I moved to the couch. When she was done, she went to the kitchen to get us something to drink before joining me on the couch.

I was startled and shocked when the movie finally came on and I saw what she chose, "An American Werewolf in London? Really?"

"It's one of Leah's favorites. She got me hooked on it."

I held her and we watched the movie in silence while I got up the nerve to start the conversation that I knew we had to have but both of us were avoiding, "Bella, I think we should talk about having sex. We are going to be living together, sharing a bed, and we've talked about birth control. What we haven't talked about is when we expect to…uh…progress to that level of our, uh, relationship. Have you thought about it…at all?"

"I think about it a lot actually. I think I'd like it if we waited until we were in our house in California. I'd feel really awkward doing it in your parent's house and here is out because I share a room with the baby."

"I agree with you there. I'm good with waiting. I don't want to…I mean I've always intended to wait until after high school to have sex for the first time."

"But I don't think we should wait until then and then jump head first into it. We should…maybe…I don't know…work up to it?"

"I'd be up for that." I responded without thinking about the wording I used. It did get her to laugh.

"I'm sure you would be!" At least that relived the nerves and tension in the room.

"I wish we could pick up where we got interrupted at the hotel the other day."

"So do I, but dad is due home any minute."

"Yeah. I really have no desire to piss of a guy who carries a gun."

"See, I knew you were smart. How about you stay for dinner instead?"

"Thanks but I should go home for dinner. I am sure Mom is waiting to talk to me."

Charlie did walk in the door not more than five minutes later and I stayed another half hour after that discussing the new house with Charlie. I walked into the kitchen and into a discussion my parents were having about me attending Bella's appointment.

"You could have warned me when you called me this morning."

"Oh hush! At least they are trying to be responsible. I had to deal with Alice on my own. You got Edward."

"Hey sweetie," mom greeted me as she saw me standing in the doorway, "dinner is almost ready."

"Did you guys ever find it hard to sit by when the doctors gave us our shots when Alice and I were babies?"

"Your Mom bawled for an hour the first time. Why?"

"Bella and I took Tanya to her checkup after we left your office and they gave her three shots. It was horrible to watch."

"It is never easy to endure your baby sick or hurt. No matter how old they get," Mom answered me.

We ate a quick dinner when Alice got home a few minutes later and then I went to my room because I did need to get my homework done for tomorrow. I was just about to crawl into bed when I got a text from Bella. "Don't pick me up in morning. Tanya's running a fever. Staying home with her."

I answered back that I would bring her homework to her after school tomorrow. I would also stay and help her out. It was the least I could do since I was going to get a good night's sleep and she definitely wasn't.

A/N:

Happy Friday! Ffn finally decided to start working again so I can post..Enjoy and see you on Tuesday!


	73. Chapter 73

LL Chapter 73

Title

On my way home from school I stopped by the grocery store. I picked up Tanya some Pedialyte pops and for Bella I got some flowers. I wanted to buy her some candy but decided that she would not appreciate it.

She looked so frazzled when she opened the door. Her hair was a mess, her clothes were dirty, and she smelled like vomit. It was kind of gross but there was no way that I was going to say anything to her. I just kissed her on the cheek and told her that I missed her today. She let me in, I went to the kitchen and put the popsicles in the freezer, and then I paused, "can she have one now?"

"Yeah, it will probably be good for her." Bella answered by yelling back to me from the living room. I grabbed one back out and took it to Tanya who got really excited when she saw it.

"Now that you are here, I am going to go take a shower. I'm really disgusting right now."

"We'll be fine. Won't we baby?" But she wasn't listening to me. Once I gave her the popsicle so no longer realized that I was still sitting there holding her. I looked up to urge Bella to go on and clean up but she was already gone too. It made me laugh.

A half an hour later Bella came back downstairs. She had changed into some fresh sweats and a t-shirt and her hair was still wet from her shower. She put in a movie and the two of us moved to the couch while Tanya played with her stacking rings.

It was only a few minutes into the movie that I noticed that Bella had fallen asleep. I got up and carefully laid her head on a throw pillow and covered her with a blanket before going to play with Tanya some more.

About an hour after Bella fell asleep Tanya started putting her toys in her mouth and sucking on them, which was a sure sign that she was hungry. I picked her up and took her to the kitchen in search of something that I could feed her that would not make her sick again. I found some of the homemade pear sauce that my sister had made her and some white grape juice. She was at the point that she could hold her own bottle if you handed it to her but she could not pick it up by herself, and she couldn't hold it for very long before it got too heavy for her and she dropped it.

By the time I finished feeding Tanya and cleaning her up, which thankfully she didn't need a full bath this time, I started rummaging through the fridge to find something to make Bella and I for dinner. I found some ham, eggs, and cheese and decided to make a scramble and toast. I was not as good at cooking as Mom and Alice were but I wasn't so bad that I belonged on that show "America's Worst Cooks" or anything like that. I could cook well enough to survive on my own if I had to.

I got everything I needed together and pour two glasses of orange juice before going to wake Bella. It wouldn't take very long to cook the eggs and toast and I didn't want to have to leave the kitchen after I turned the stove on.

It wasn't very easy to wake Bella and I hated to do it but I didn't think she had eaten all day given that there were no dishes in the sink and she really needed to eat something.

Bella followed me into the kitchen, shuffling her feet and yawning, collapsing into the chair next to Tanya's highchair. She made the mistake of laying her head down on the table because Tanya saw her and seized a golden opportunity. She reached over, grabbed a hunk of Bella's hair, and started to pull it. Bella cried out in pain as she reached for the back of her head trying to extricate the baby's fingers from her hair while mumbling, "I hate it when she does that. It hurts."

"Does she do that often?" I asked trying unsuccessful not to laugh.

"Often enough. It's worse when her hands are dirty from eating. Then I have to wash strained peas out of my hair." I couldn't hold back my laughter at that one.

After we finished eating Bella went to wash the dishes while I took Tanya to change her into her pajamas and get her ready for bed. I was just finishing when Bella came into the living room. I gave the baby a kiss before I handed her to Bella and she took her upstairs to their room.

I stretched out on their couch and closed my eyes waiting for Bella to come back downstairs. The girl must have been practicing her stealth moves because I never heard her come down the stairs. I was a little shocked when all of a sudden she climbed on top and me and leaned down to kiss me.

"When did you say your dad was coming home?" I asked without even opening my eyes.

"Not until after midnight. The others won't be back for a couple of hours either. Want to pick up where we left off in California?"

"Fuck yes." I kissed her this time and tentatively moved my hands to her legs and fucking hell her pants were gone.

My eyes shot open causing her to laugh. "I was under the impression that you liked my legs naked?"

"I love your naked legs." Then she settled her weight down on me a little more and she gasped and jumped. I knew she felt it. There was no way that she couldn't have.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes. I just…"

"Would it help if I told you that I was scared too?"

"You are?"

"I'm utterly terrified."

"Why?"

"Because I have no idea what I'm doing."

She sighed and relaxed a little and I reached up and kissed her again. She pulled back and a little as my hands moved from her legs to her butt but she seemed alright so I continued to kiss her. Then I moved my hands under her shirt only to find she wasn't wearing a bra either.

"I think I found another part of you I like naked," I whispered in her ear as I moved my hands to her breasts. That was just…oh my God. I nearly lost it in my pants just feeling her breasts. I've wanted to do this for a while and I could lie here for hours just exploring her body. But tonight was not the night to things too far. I didn't want to push her to far too fast.

I pulled my hands out of her shirt, wrapped my arms around her waist, and told her, "We should stop."

"I know we should, but it so hard to. I never thought I'd enjoy this so much and who knows when we'll get a chance to be alone like this again."

"I know but we will find time again."

She sighed and shifted so that she was lying next to me on the couch. We laid there like that until we heard a car pull into the driveway and Bella jumped off the couch and went running up the stairs presumably going for her pants. I was still laughing at Bella's flight up the stairs when I looked up to see Leah and Seth standing in the doorway looking at me like I was nuts. But thank God it wasn't her father with his gun.

A/N:

Happy Valentine's Day! Have you seen America's Worst Cooks? I am still shuddering over the guy that wanted to cook salmon using the dishwasher. OMG! So Bella and Edward got a little alone time and there will be more to come. (pun intended). Question: were your Valentines as romantic as Edward was with his picnic in front of the fireplace? See you Friday!


	74. Chapter 74

LL Chapter 74

Tanya was feeling well enough for Bella to go to school on Friday. Alice and I had to drop Bella off at home right after school and get home ourselves. Mom and Dad were insisting that the four of us spend Mom's birthday together as a family. It was the last one that we were all going to be here for and she was adamant that it was just the family.

Mom decided that she wanted us to head up to Port Angeles for dinner and a movie. Unfortunately, Mom decided that she wanted to go to the French restaurant so that required me to wear a jacket and tie. Cest si Bon was one of Mom's favorite restaurants so it was no surprise that she chose it.

The ride up to Port Angeles was filled with easy conversation. Mom asked us what our plans were for the weekend. Alice and Jasper were going to spend the day shopping in Port Angeles. They were shopping for his room in our house in California. I guess he needed knickknacks, art works, and other important things like that. Mom got quite excited when I told her that Bella wanted to get pictures taken of Tanya when I got back from my volunteering at Port Angeles Hospital.

"Do you think Bella would mind if I tagged along tomorrow?" Mom asked bringing me out of my thoughts.

"No, I know she'd be fine with that," for some reason that seemed to make mom's night.

We made it to Port Angeles too early to go to the restaurant for our reservations so Dad suggested we take a walk along the pier since it was a nice afternoon for a change. The sun had even come out right before we left Forks.

By the time we were finally seated at the restaurant I was starving. I already knew there was no sticking to our healthy eating diet before I even looked at the menu.

"It's a good thing we both studied French," I quipped to Alice who laughed.

"It's a good thing that Alice gets A's in French. Have you been practicing talking French in normal situations? Maybe we should start talking French around the house to get you used to speaking it all the time." Dad asked.

"That would help me a lot. I can't we only have a few weeks of high school left."

The waitress came over to take our drink order, while Dad was telling the waitress about the bottle of champagne he had reserved for tonight, I had a brilliant idea and leaned over to whisper to Alice. When we were kids, we always liked to get special drinks when we went out with our parents. When the waitress turned to us I immediately order a Roy Rogers while Alice ordered a Shirley Temple. Then, in true twin fashion, we both blurted out a request for extra cherries. Mom and Dad were laughing at us and the waitress probably thought we were weird but I didn't care.

Dad asked if we knew what our friends were up to tonight. The girls were having a sleep over at Bella's house. Charlie was trying to find a way to escape the house. But seeing as he had the night off from both of his jobs there was no hope of him getting away from all the girly things going on in the house. I would bet money, this was one of those rare times Charlie missed the days when he lived in the house alone.

Since I knew that Bella and I were both going to be bad about our diets tonight, I ordered the scallops flambé made with cognac. My sister ordered the escargot. I shuddered every time I saw her eat one. But she had never had one before and thought she should if she was going to learn to cook in France. She was positive it would be one of the first things they made her cook in class. Maybe it would be I wouldn't know but I did know that you would never get me to eat them.

After dinner was over we gave Mom her presents. Dad had booked them on a cruise for October. They were sailing out of Los Angeles and headed for Mexico so they were going to be able to take a couple of days to visit with Bella and me before they sailed. I knew by then I would be missing my parents and would love a visit from them.

Mom loved the new Camera that Bella, Alice, and I went in on together for her. It was one of those professional DSR's that she had been wanting.

It was dry outside when we left the restaurant so we decided to walk down the street to the movie theatre. I was looking up and down the street just taking in all the people that were roaming around when Alice nudged me and pointed to the ticket counter where Dad was standing.

"I didn't know Angela got a job here?" I asked shocked to see her there.

"Neither did I. I wonder why she didn't tell me."

"Well, it's none of my business what she does and I really couldn't care less."

"Edward! She's our friend." My sister admonished me.

"No. She's _your_ friend. She's never been my friend."

Alice rolled her eyes, "I thought you were starting to like her."

"No, I tolerated her because I thought that she and Bella were friends. But I hear they're not so I don't have to suffer pretending anymore."

"You're an ass."

"Are you just figuring this out after all these years?"

"I always knew it; I just thought you grew out of it."

"Guess not."

Halfway through the movie I noticed Dad look down at his pager and then leave the theatre. When he returned a few minutes later he leaned over us and told us that we had to go, Bella was being rushed to the emergency room.

A/N:

Please don't kill me. I told reviewers that there was going to be a surprise tonight…I didn't say it was a great surprise. The next chapter is already started and shouldn't take me long to complete. Don't forget about the Juvenile Diabetes Fundraiser. It's a $5 donation and I have written an outtake from Bella's POV. It picks up just about where Charlie's left off. Reviews to this chapter will get a teaser! You can find the link on my profile.


	75. Chapter 75

LL Chapter 75

Mom drove us back to Forks so Dad could talk to the Emergency Room and find out what was going on. Dad was listening to ordering tests and demanding to be kept informed about every development while Mom broke every traffic law imaginable trying to get us to Forks quickly.

I was sitting there, staring out the window but not really seeing anything when I felt Alice reach over and grab my hand. Dad turned around in his seat and told us what he'd found out so far, "Edward did she tell you that I had her sign release forms when she was my office the other day."

"No. What kind of release forms?"

"It's really for when you two go to California. It gives you the right to discuss her medical condition with her doctors there and make decisions on her behalf in case she can't. You are not married to her nor are you family. Without these forms the doctors would have to wait to talk to Charlie and you would be told nothing about what was going on with her. Charlie would still be making any decisions necessary for her right now but it means that I can legally keep you informed of what's going on with her." I nodded.

"Charlie said she seemed fine. She was having fun with her friends and they were doing their nails when they decided to turn on some dancing video game of Leah's. He said it happened quite fast from there. One moment she was dancing, drinking a soda, eating pizza, and laughing; the next claimed to be dizzy and had her chest hurt, then she fainted. She briefly lost consciousness at her house and again on the way to the hospital. The attending doctor was concerned with her blood pressure readings so I was called. I won't know anymore until I see the test results and talk to her myself." We spent the rest of the ride in silence. There was a lot of salt in everything she ate today, but I found it hard to believe that one day off the diet was the cause behind it.

Mom pulled right up to the emergency room doors and Dad, Alice, and I jumped out and ran in while Mom drove off to park the car. Dad went off in search of the doctor assigned to Bella. He wanted to get an update while Alice and I found everyone milling around the waiting room. Everyone was there except for Sue. I already knew from Dad's phone conversations in the car she was with Bella assisting the doctors. "Have they said anything to you guys about how she is?" I asked the room in general.

"Sue was out here a minute ago and told us that she is resting, they are still waiting on the results of the tests your dad ordered."

An hour later, we were still waiting for Dad, or anyone for that matter, to come out with an update about Bella's condition. Alice and Jasper had wandered off, I think they said something about going to get drinks for everyone but I really wasn't paying attention to them, I was now holding Tanya who had woken up and fussed until I took her from Seth.

It was another half hour before Dad finally came out, "She's going to be fine but I am admitting her overnight for observation. Her blood pressure was quite high and I am not comfortable sending her home right now. I am trying a new combination of medications on her. The good news is it's already working and her blood pressure is has started going down."

"What happened Dad? It couldn't have been just one day of cheating on her diet."

"Edward, she ate a lot of things that she has been told she should never have again, like potato chips. However, I believe that the main problem is exhaustion coupled with larges junk food with extremely high amounts of sodium, especially the caffeine she had tonight it is no wonder she got sick. She is really lucky that it was any worse than it is. It has only been six months since her hear attack, she could easily have another unless she starts taking care of herself better. I would like to restrict visitors to immediate family and Edward for right now. Sue is with her right now and the rest of you can go back one at a time. Please limit your visits to just a few minutes, she needs to rest."

"She is so stubborn. She thinks she needs to take of the baby all by herself in the evening and study late into the night after the baby is asleep. Then she has gotten herself so worried about tuition next year, she keeps trying to apply for every scholarship she qualifies for and a few she doesn't. I keep telling her not to worry about it, Sue and I have it covered, and that she needs more sleep. She hates that Sue and I both took on second jobs. Like I said she's stubborn. Good luck, Edward, she gets it from both her mother and me." Charlie ranted. I felt bad that I hadn't noticed that she was any more tired than she normally was.

"Charlie, I've told her the same thing at her appointments. She needs to take of herself just as much as she does the baby. "

"She was fine in school today. I can't believe it happened so fast." Alice whispered.

"Things like this present very quickly, Alice. I just saw her the other day and her blood pressure was absolutely normal. I saw nothing to lead me to believe that there was a problem other than she was very tired. I need to get back there; they will be moving her soon. She is quite tired right now and will probably, hopefully, give in soon and fall asleep. I think she is holding off until she gets to see her daughter." Dad turned to leave and Charlie and I followed him back to the exam room Bella was waiting in.

I waited in the hall while Charlie went in first. I was standing out in the hall where I couldn't see them but I could hear their conversation, "You have to stop scaring me like this, kiddo. I'm not a cat you know. I don't have nine lives to spare."

"I'm sorry, Dad."

"I know. I was just teasing you. I love you. You know that right? Now two people are in the hall are waiting to see you, so I am going go out and let them come in. But I will be right out in the hall if you need me, ok?"

"Ok, dad." I peeked into the room to see Charlie lean over her and kiss her on the forehead. When he stood up I got a good look at Bella. It was a shock to her looking so pale and frail. Charlie walked out of the room, patting me on the shoulder as I started into the room. I walked over to Bella and as I kissed her on the cheek, she reached up and stroked Tanya's face.

"I wish I could hold her," she sighed. Will you tell your mom that I'm sorry I ruined her birthday?"

"You didn't," she rolled her eyes, at me, "Really Bella you didn't. Dinner was done and over with and we were already at the movie theatre. It was a horrible chick flick so I really should be thanking you for getting me out of there."

"I am so happy I could help." She quipped as she shut her eyes.

"You know, you have quite the fan club out in the waiting room."

"Oh God!" She groaned. "This is so embarrassing."

"No. They care about you. They just want to make sure that you are alright." She nodded but didn't even open her eyes through our conversation.

"Do you want us to go and let you rest?"

She didn't get a chance to answer before the orderlies came in to move her up to her room. Dad walked in with them and checked blood pressure one more time before he would allow them to move her. "180. It's still moving in the right direction. Remember, it's important to keep yourself as relaxed and calm as possible. I'll see you upstairs in a bit."

It took a half hour before they got her settled in her room and allowed us to see her again. Charlie sent Leah and Seth in to see her before he and I went in again. Mom and Alice wandered off to Dad's office to wait for me to be ready to go. Everyone else went home for the night. They were not going to get to see her tonight so there was no point in them staying.

When it was just Charlie and I in the waiting room he turned to me, "Edward. I want you to take Tanya back to your house with you for the night. I think Bella would rest more comfortably if she knew that you had her at your house rather than having her in a car seat in a hospital wait room all night."

"Are you going to stay here all night?"

"Sue and I both are. I thought about sending Tanya home with Leah or Seth but the baby has been sick recently and you have more experience with babies than they." I just nodded. But, God, I didn't want to leave Bella here. That seemed like the wrong thing to do. I knew Charlie was right; Bella would not want Tanya to be here all night. But I wanted to be here by her side.

"Trust me, I understand it is hard to consider turning and leaving Bella here. When she was in the hospital after she was attacked, I didn't want to leave her side for anything. But I had to force myself to walk out and take of other things that are just as important. I promise we will call you if anything happens." I nodded.

When Seth and Leah came back to the waiting room, I took Tanya to and started down the hall towards Bella's room to say goodnight. I ran into Sue and Dad at the nurse's desk and told them that I was just going in to say goodnight. They told me to go on in and then they went back to reading Bella's charts.

When I walked into her room she was fast asleep, so I just whispered goodnight and kissed her lightly on the forehead and left knowing I would be back to see her first thing in the morning.

A/N:

Happy Friday! I know well that one day of being really bad about your diet can be dangerous. Not to mention all of the other stuff that can affect your health when you have a chronic health condition.

Funny Story: When writing the last chapter I went online to see if there was a French restaurant in Port Angeles. C'est si Bon does exist and so does La Bella Italia. I always figured SM made that up. I kinda felt foolish about that. That also led me to look up restaurants in Forks, for a town with only 3120 people there are ton of restaurants! I was really shocked! I really like that SM took the time to do the research; it makes me love the books even more now!

See you on Tuesday!


	76. Chapter 76

LL Chapter 76

The night

I moved the portable crib that Mom kept at the house to my room as soon as we got home. Mom has suggested putting it up in the guest room but I just couldn't be even that far away from her tonight. Not with Bella in the hospital tonight.

I had just come out of the bathroom from brushing my teeth when there was a soft knock on the door. I opened it to find Mom standing there, "I just wanted to check on you before I went to bed."

"I'm fine with her mom. I take care of her all the time and she's sleeping soundly."

"I know that honey. I wanted to make sure _you_ are all right. It's been a pretty scary night."

"I'm fine Mom. I don't think that I would have left that hospital for anything if Charlie hadn't been right about it not being good for Tanya to be there all night."

"It's the natural protective nature of Cullen men. It is so ingrained in them to protect the ones they love. Did I ever tell you that your father slept in the chair in my hospital room when you and Alice were born?

"No."

"The only time he left my side was when he went to follow one or both of you to the nursery. The choice of whether to follow you or stay with me nearly tore him in two. I swear if he could have been in both places at one time he would have. Bella is going to be just fine and she is going to appreciate that you put her daughter first. Do you want me to drive you to the hospital in the morning?"

"Maybe. I don't know." I said walking over to my bed and crawling in. "Mom why have you and dad been so accepting my relationship with Bella. I mean when most parents would cringe and throw a fit about their son being with a teenage girl with a baby; you and dad have encouraged us."

"Your father and I met Bella years ago, Edward. Even though she wouldn't remember. We know that she is a good girl who was hurt by everyone she knew and trusted and lost everything at once. When it was decided that she was going to move up here, your father and I were hoping that you and Alice would befriend her."

"I don't understand what you mean? You met her years ago? When?"

"Oh, you were about three. Charlie normally took his vacation when Bella came to visit but that year his deputy's wife suddenly went into labor two days into Bella's visit and with his friend Billy's wife in the end stage of her cancer, taking her to the reservation was out. He was taking her into the station with him. I ran in to pay a parking ticket and she was so bored that she was whiny and fussy and poor Charlie didn't know what to do to keep her entertained anymore so I volunteered to bring her home with me and she could play with you and Alice while Charlie was at work. She was the sweetest little thing."

"Did we get along?"

"Not at first. You were always wary of new things and new people coming into your life. But after a couple days the three of you were the best of friends."

"Why didn't you ever get us together since then?"

"We aren't exactly friends with Charlie, Edward. His circle of friends was the guys he grew up with that live on the reservation. Then a few years later, I understand she stopped coming to Forks to visit him. They started traveling together elsewhere. I would ask about her anytime I saw him. He was always so proud of her."

"Wow."

"You and your sister have lived a very privileged life, Edward. Your sister more than you, you get to see first-hand how hard and painful life can get when you volunteer at the hospital working with sick babies. Life rarely works out like a fairytale where the prince and princess meet, get married, and then have a baby and live happily ever after. She does not deserve to be punished for things that were out of her control. You know yourself how amazing and strong she is. She is exactly the type of girl that your father and I have always envisioned you with. Sure, having a baby around is going to make college harder, but not impossible. Edward, think about the amount of character, strength, and conviction it took for her to choose to keep that baby. It is incredible. Most rape victims would have had an abortion. As sweet and beautiful as that baby is, and as much as I know Bella loves her daughter, that child was not conceived in love. Seeing you step up and be with her and love the both of them the way you do makes your father and I very proud of. You will have a whole houseful of friends that are willing to moving to California to help you. That is something that a lot of single mothers don't have. They have to do it on their own. Now, get some sleep and tomorrow we will go see your other precious angel." She walked over to the bed and kissed my forehead, which was something she hadn't done since I was a kid, "Good night, honey." She whispered as she slipped out the door. I didn't have the energy to reply back, I just closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I woke the next morning to Tanya fussing in her play crib. I got up and changed her before going downstairs to get her breakfast. I was grateful for Mom insisting that she keep things here for Tanya so neither Bella nor Sue would have to worry about packing a bunch of stuff when they brought her over. Alice grabbed her from me and insisted on being the one to get to feed her saying that her opportunities to do so were dwindling.

I let her take over so I could get something to eat and get ready to go to the hospital. When I got downstairs from my shower and getting dressed, I found Alice playing with Tanya who was wearing an outfit that I had never seen before. It was a little black denim skirt over a onesie with pink skull and cross bones. There was also a matching jacket and beanie hat with the skull and cross bones on them. What the hell was she thinking putting a baby in something like that.

"Where did you get that outfit?"

"I ordered it off the internet. Isn't it cool!"

"No. I think Bella is going to flip when she sees her daughter dressed like that."

"Oh calm down. Bella is going to love it. Look, I even got a matching bib and jacket for her too!"

"MOM!" I yelled as I her coming down the stairs "Did you see what Alice put on Tanya?"

"Oh dear," Mom was taken aback when she saw the so-called 'outfit', "What happened to the dress I gave you to put on her?"

"It was too frilly, girly, and babyish."

"Alice, she _is_ a baby girl and her mother prefers to dress her that way. When you have a baby you can dress her however you want, but Bella would not appreciate it. Please change her so we can go."

"Fine," Alice pouted but changed her anyway. "But can I get a few pictures of her in it first?"

"Be quick about it, please. I want to see Bella before she is released."

"You are so whipped."

"Watch it young lady, because I would like to go see my husband too."

Alice decided to stay home saying there were a few things she needed to do that she refused to elaborate on. She would only tell me that it was a surprise and I would find out on Monday.

A/N:

Yes, it's another chapter. I've been inspired lately. I have two things to apologize for. First of all, for every one that got an alert of a new chapter on Saturday, I am so sorry about that. I went to post the new chapter of ASL and got distracted by a shirtless Rob while watching the Honeymoon scenes of BD! Yeah. Love those scenes. Second, I did not get to review replies for Chapter 75. I got to writing and figured people would rather get a new chapter than a reply. But I read every one of them and you guys really make me smile with you comments and your love of the story.


	77. Chapter 77

LL Chapter 77

"There she is! Finally!" Bella exclaimed as I walked into her hospital room. She was looking a lot better than she did when I left last night. She was sitting up with her arms held out for me to hand her Tanya. She grabbed the baby from my arms, held her tight to her chest, and sighed, "I missed you so much last night baby girl." What the hell was I? Chopped liver?

"Good morning to you too, Bella. I miss you too." I said trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

"I'm sorry Edward. I don't do separation from her well. Thank you for taking care of her last night. You don't know how much I appreciate it."

"It wasn't that big of a deal Bella. Where's your dad?"

"He had to go into work this morning so he and Sue just left. She'll be back soon though. Your dad said he might let me go home this afternoon. He should be back soon with the results of the latest round of tests they did."

By mid afternoon Dad was willing to let her go home, but she was to spend the rest of the weekend resting.

"You also have to be strict about sticking to your diet Bella. I mean it, absolutely no caffeine and absolutely no salt. The consequences are not worth the treat."

"I know. I promise I'll try harder."

"I want you to see a nutritionist as well. I want her help you put together meal plans and she can also give you some great recipes too."

"Alright. I'll go."

"I'll go with you," I volunteered.

"You don't have to,"

"I know I don't have to. I want to. Oh, before I forget, I called and rescheduled with the photographer. Our appointment is now next Saturday at two."

"Thanks. She looks so pretty in this dress. Is it one of the new ones you bought her Esme?"

"Yes. There are quite a few more."

"I'd like to see them before next weekend and maybe get her picture taken in one."

"You should see what Alice had on her this morning."

"Do I really want to know?"

"No." Mom and I said at the same.

"Maybe someday when your blood pressure isn't so volatile we'll show you the pictures."

"Maybe it's better that I don't know."

Dad left the room saying that he was going to check for the test results to be in. By the way he was laughing; I could only assume that Mom told him about that crazy outfit.

Sue made it back to Bella's room before Dad did. Bella was getting antsy; she wanted to get out of the hospital. "I hate hospitals," she griped. "I've spent too much time in stuck in them."

"I know," Sue said, "But I am sure that Carlisle is going to let you go home soon."

It wasn't until late afternoon that Dad made it back to Bella's room with the news that she could go home. He gave Sue a bottle of pills that he had filled at the hospital pharmacy and a blood pressure cuff. It was the new prescription that he put her on the night before. He gave explicit instructions about how to take the medicine and that he wanted her blood pressure check twice a day every day and he wanted to see a log of the reading when she came in for an appointment in a week. He also said that if her blood pressure wasn't at an acceptable range she was to stay home from school and if it started getting high again she was to be brought to the emergency room immediately. I looked at Bella and she had a look on her face that was almost like she was feeling defeated by the whole situation.

I really wanted to follow her and Tanya back to her house but thought that it was probably better that she go home and rest without a bunch of people hanging around. Sue, Leah, and Seth were already going to be hovering over her like crazy.

I gave her a quick kiss goodbye before I turned and buckled Tanya into the back of Sue's van. I told Bella to call if she needed anything; even it was just to rant about her family doting on her. Sue heard me and started laughing from the driver's seat, "Yeah, Bella doesn't take to people doing things for her well."

I knew that her Mom was flighty and irresponsible at times and Bella had learned to take of herself years ago. Bella was positive that her Mom loved her but needed a caretaker herself.

Mom, Dad, and I arrived home to the house smelling amazing. It was obvious that Alice had spent the entire day cooking while we were gone. We went straight to the kitchen to find not only Alice but Jessica there working. Alice was getting friendlier with Jessica but this was the first time they had done anything alone together.

"What are you guys making?" Mom asked looking over the spread of food on the counter.

"Low fat, no salt, oatmeal cookies with craisons." She pointed to a container of cookies. Then when to point of other various low fat and salt treats that she made, "Smart choices instead denying yourself a treat."

"That's amazing Alice," Dad said looking over the counter.

"Bella can have this stuff right?"

"Do you have the recipe or did you make it up as you went along?"

"I made it up, but Jessica wrote it all down."

"Let me see." As Dad started going over the recipes I grabbed cookie and went to sit at the table. Alice brought me a sandwich and salad and told me to taste test it for her. It was all pretty amazing for being health food.

"You know, maybe Bella doesn't need to see a nutritionist, I think Alice has Bella covered with meals until you to leave for California.

"I didn't cook that much food. But I would be willing keep coming up with new recipes for her. Even after I leave for Paris. I can just email you guys new recipes that I come up with."

"I was just joking Alice, I still want her to see someone that has been trained to hand out dietary advice."

Alice shrugged and kept cooking. I left for my room after I was done eating and turned on a movie. I kept my phone in my hand in case Bella decided to call.

The movie I was watching was almost over when someone knocked on my open door as they walked in the room, "Hey Edward. Do you think you could drive me home? Alice is still cooking and I promised my Dad I'd have dinner with him tonight."

"I thought the two of you weren't talking."

"We aren't really but he's been calling every day and I just want to get him off my back."

"Where are you meeting him for dinner?"

"The diner. Why?"

"Because all of us would be there too if you wanted us to be. You know Alice knows Judo now. She could beat your dad senseless if you wanted her to." Jessica just laughed as I got off the bed and grabbed my keys, "Speaking of Alice, I was shocked to see the two of you hanging out alone."

"I was shocked when she called me and asked for my help. But we had a good day."

We were just walking out the front door when a text came through on my phone, "Save me…PLEASE!" Jessica came over and leaned over my arm to see what made me start laughing all of a sudden. Once she read the text she started laughing too. Poor Bella was suffering the cruel act of being spoiled and pampered by her family.

A/N:

Happy Tuesday! See Bella is better and home and being tortured by her family.


	78. Chapter 78

LL Chapter 78

Monday, Monday

On Sunday, Charlie decided that Bella should remain resting with peace and quiet, so no one was allowed to come over to visit. He even told the guys from the reservation not to come over to watch the game. So I didn't feel quite so bad about not being allowed to see her. I understood his reasoning; her health was way more important risking anything happening just because I couldn't stay away for a day or two. Besides, from what I understood, she spent most of the day sleeping. I guess Charlie took her laptop away but allowed to her to keep her phone. This was his attempt to keep her from going back to looking up scholarships and stressing herself out.

She and I spent the time she was awake texting back and forth and I know she was texting our other friends as well. She was happy that her blood pressure readings were in the normal range all day. Sue even demanded that Charlie back off and let Bella up so they take a reading after she had been up moving around for awhile. Bella was thrilled to get off the couch and get a shower. She also managed to give Tanya a bath and eat a meal at the dinner table with the rest of her family. But Charlie was adamant that Tanya stay with him and Sue for one more night to make sure she got another good nights sleep. We all told her that it was a good idea and she finally gave in.

I was still smiling from Bella's text as I came downstairs Monday morning, "Been paroled. Get here quick!" Alice was lugging a huge basket of food with her when we left for school. When we got to Bella's house to pick her up I was about to ask her if she wanted me to take the basket in the house when Bella came rushing out the door and practically jumped into the car, "Drive. NOW! Before they change their minds and drag me back in there." Then I could swear I heard her muttering, "Free at last…thank God almighty I'm free at last!"

The morning went by quickly and quietly. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime and Bella and I were walking to the cafeteria together. Alice met us at the door and ushered us to our table telling us we didn't need to bother going through the line for lunch. It was then that I saw the basket of food Alice had put in my trunk this morning. I put my hand in my pocket and sure enough, my keys were still there, "Alice, how did you get that out my car without the keys?"

"I stole the spare set out of dad's desk this morning."

"Why are you stealing my car keys instead of just asking me for them?"

"Because that would have ruined the surprise!" She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What surprise?" Bella asked.

"You'll see," Alice said looping her arm around Bella's. She started leading her to our lunch table, pulling Bella's hand out of mind as they walked off. Once we got over there I noticed that none of our friends had purchased their lunches. They seemed to be waiting for us.

"Will someone please tell us what is going on?" Bella demanded.

"Well you see…" Alice started. She went on to explain that she came up with the idea while we were sitting at the hospital Saturday night. While I was busy worrying about Bella and talking with her family, my sister was planning her little surprise with all of our friends.

I watched carefully as she opened the basket and started to hand out the food as she explained that she realized that no one wants to be different or denied what everyone else has. She told us that the fact that I was trying to follow Bella's diet with her was what gave her the idea in the first place. She had managed to convince all of our friends to do the same thing.

Even Emmett was going on the diet, although his salad and fruit bowl was twice the size of the rest of ours and he got two sandwiches. I guess Alice decided the eating healthy didn't mean that you had to go hungry too. That was a smart move because a hungry Emmett was a cranky, whiny Emmett.

When everyone was done eating their lunch, Alice pulled the container of cookies out the basket. Bella was hesitant to take one until Alice told her that the recipe was approved by Dad as being acceptable with her diet but she had to limit herself to just two. Bella jumped up and grabbed Alice into a hug, thanking her for what she was doing.

"Bella, my brother isn't the only one that loves you. None of us want to see anything happen to you."

Before I knew it the school day was over and it was time to head home. Sue had picked up Bella to take her to her doctors appointment in Port Angeles. She was not allowed to drive by herself right now. That was _my _Dad's rule, at least until he was sure that her blood pressure wasn't going to spike again causing her to lose consciousness. Part of me was a bit resentful that it wasn't me getting to drive her to Port Angeles. I hadn't seen her or Tanya all weekend and it was starting to irritate me that I couldn't spend more time with them. The only thing that was really keeping me from having a childish temper tantrum was the fact that Bella and I had plans to hang out at my house after school tomorrow. I could survive until then.

It turned out that Alice kept Mom and me so busy helping her cook all afternoon that I completely lost track of time until I heard the click of a camera. We all looked up from what we were doing to find Dad standing in the doorway of the kitchen with his camera phone out. "A copy of this is going on my desk at work," he said smiling at us.

A/N:

Life is nothing without friends and family that love you completely!

Happy Friday! I am trying to decide if I should keep this going into there college year (as there is much I want to explore with them) or put the college years into a sequel? Decisions…decisions….

After I posted Tuesday's chapter, ffn decided to go all fail on read counts. At one point no one had read the chapter but I had one review…still trying to figure out how that would work? *Scratches head*

I have a couple of rec's this week

Exposure by RandomCran and MorganLocklear: they are husband and wife and a joy to talk to on twitter and twi. Warning: you will want to torture Carlisle and then beat him to death.

(take out the spaces).

http:/www . fanfiction . net/s/7761233/1/EXPOSURE

Summary: Edward Masen is a talented but struggling actor. Bella Swan is a successful but bashful Hollywood publicist. When sparks fly on a Sci-Fi thriller movie set, Bella finds herself putting out fires and straddling something bigger than headlines.

Snapdragon by PrettyKittyArtist: WARNING this story is 100% gut wrenching, keep you up all night stewing about the latest update kind of angst. SO if that is not your thing don't go there. But the author assures us that the worst is almost over and there will be a HEA (if I don't find a way into ficland to kill Edward first). There is a thread on twi and a private discussion group on facebook for the story. Just PM the the author and she will add you to the group. She posts teasers on facebook all the time.

http:/www . fanfiction . net/s/7584562/1/Snapdragon

Summary: Once upon a time, a girl fell in love with a boy. He gave her a ring and promised her forever. No one told her there'd be an expiration date on her glass slippers. What's a girl to do when she stands to lose everything? She fights. Hard. EXB AH AU

See you on Tuesday!


	79. Chapter 79

LL Chapter 79

Family

Bella had been looking forward to our date all day. Well, I was looking forward to being semi alone with her all day. But I knew that she was eager to be somewhere people weren't smothering her with attention. Little did she know that Mom wasn't going to be much better.

Mom was waiting for us in the living room when we got to the house, "You're father called and asked me out on a date, so I am meeting him at the hospital and then we are to Port Angeles. You kids are on your own tonight but Edward; don't keep them out too late. They both need their sleep." She grabbed her purse and left us alone.

Bella settled herself down on the floor where Tanya was playing while I went and got us some apple juice, two glasses and one bottle. I sat on the floor behind Bella and pulled her into my arms while she helped Tanya hold onto her bottle.

When Tanya was done with her drink, she through herself forward and got herself up on her hands and knees and started rocking back and forth. We weren't surprised as she got herself in this position quite often.

Bella was complaining about the way that her dad was treating her while we watched Tanya trying to figure out what to do next, "…he is now making me give him my laptop at nine every night. At least he conceded that he can't take my phone since it doubles as my alarm clock."

I will admit, I was spacing out a little bit as Bella was rambling about her dad. That is until she smacked me to get my attention, "Look!" She whispered excitedly pointing at her daughter. Sure enough, Tanya was finally figuring out how to get moving. We watched together as she moved her left knee forward. It was such a slight movement that we would not have realized that she moved at all if we hadn't been watching her so closely. Then she moved her right knee the same distance. Then she gave up by sitting up on her butt and started playing with her stuffed dog.

I grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels looking for something for us to watch. We finally settle on the remake Arthur. Mom and Dad swear that the original version was a lot better.

We weren't that far into the movie when Tanya started fussing and we decided that it was time for all of us to eat some dinner. I pulled some of the food that Alice had been making out of the fridge and started heating up two plates while Bella fed Tanya her supper.

By the time we finished eating and cleaning up the kitchen it was going on eight and I figured it was about time to take her home. I made her promise to keep the video camera she got for Christmas handy in case Tanya decided to try again. She didn't attempt to crawl again for the rest of the week.

I had called the photographer and rescheduled the Bella's appointment to get Tanya's pictures taken for this Saturday. I had to go up to Port Angeles in the morning though. I had cancelled on them last week with very little notice and given that I wasn't going to be around much longer, I really felt the needed to fulfill my commitment to them.

The NICU had reopened recently and unfortunately had a patient, Nathan. He was so tiny and frail that he wasn't able to be removed from the incubator. It made me think about Tanya and how much she's grown since she was here. I sat with the parents and talked to and the extended family, offering them comfort as I could.

"Do you see a lot of success stories?" The Nathan's mom asked me with tears in her eyes.

"Yes. I do." I pulled out my phone and showed them pictures of Tanya. I told them all about her and what a huge success story she had been. Nathan's grandmother kept going on about how beautiful she was and joking about arranging a marriage between them.

"She's not my daughter. She's my girlfriend's daughter." I regretfully told them. I loved her like she was my daughter, but she wasn't. I was glad that they were taking a positive attitude about Nathan's recovery. I've seen it make a difference before.

The nurse on duty bragged to them that I was leaving soon to become study medicine. I knew the staff was going to be sad to see me go, I was their only consistent volunteer, but they were happy that I was leaving to get an education. Before I knew it my shift was over and I had to run to meet up with Mom and Bella at the photographers.

I wasn't surprised that they were already there waiting for me when I arrived. I was surprised to see Sue and Leah here too. I didn't know they were coming along. The first thing I did when I got to where Bella was standing, talking to the photographer, was to grab Tanya from her arms and give her a big hug and kissed the top of her head. Bella looked at me like she was about to ask what was wrong but I just shook my head. I'd tell her about Nathan later.

Spending the afternoon getting Tanya's picture taken turned out to be exactly what I needed to improve my mood. This guy had a lot of experience with children and never failed to get Tanya to smile or laugh for him. I was sure that we had some amazing pictures.

Bella and I were so focused on watching Tanya that neither of us noticed Leah slipping out of the room until she returned carrying garment bags.

"We decided that we want picture of the three of you together, as well as some with Bella and Tanya and you and Tanya," Mom told me in that tone of hers that said that there was going to be no discussion on it, I should just do as I was told. I wasn't totally thrilled that they sprang this on us, but I was not going to argue with them. I loved the idea. It was kind of like a family portrait.

"But I didn't bring any makeup or fix my hair," I heard Bella complain, obviously trying to get out of having her picture taken.

"Got you covered," Leah smiled holding up her bag and grabbing Bella's hand to drag her off to get her ready. I grabbed the bag that held my clothes from Mom, kissed her and Sue on the cheeks, and ran off to get changed myself.

A/N:

For a smart guy he's a bit clueless. He's looking at things from a technical standpoint. Technically, and legally, he is not her father. But that really doesn't mean he's not when it comes to loving and caring for her. He needs to figure out that just because your name isn't on the birth certificate doesn't mean you're not her dad.

I am not sure if there will be a chapter on Friday or not yet. My son has a concert Friday morning. I'm taking the day off work (and him school) for it, then he has another concert on Sunday. Plus dress rehearsal. It is a nightmare this week because they fired his conductor last Friday. One week before the concert. He was not happy when Sunday's rehearsal was led by the quack lady that neither of us can stand.

Thank you for reading my little story!

Rec: Transcendence by Savage7289

It's Caveward! It's really prehistoric Edward...uh…Ehd. It's a great story and really funny. It's complete except for the second part of the epi. The Epi pt 1 was the best epi I think I've ever, ever read. I know there has been controversy over her stories in the past, but there is none here. http:/www(.)fanfiction(.)net/s/7570951/1/


	80. Chapter 80

LL Chapter 80

Runaways and Empty Theatres Really Are a Good Thing

I put on the khaki pants and white button down dress shirt they gave me to wear and started searching the bag but couldn't find what I was looking for. "Hey Mom!" I called out as I walked out of the dressing room, "I can't find a tie in here. Or a jacket." We had never had our family pictures taken without Dad and I being in a suit and tie.

"No suit this time." She walked up to me and reached up to unbutton the collar of my shirt, "we thought a more casual theme. There she is." Mom looked over my shoulder; she was smiling as I turned to see Bella coming out of her dressing room. She took my breath away. She was wearing a pale blue dress that had a pink belt around her waist, a pink strap that went around her neck and the skirt part didn't even make it to her knees. She had pulled her hair up off her neck with just a few strands hanging loose around her face. She looked so incredibly beautiful that I was sure that she was trying to kill me.

The photographer came over and instructed us to go to where he had some chairs set up for us. He had us do several different poses. We started with both of us sitting down with Bella holding Tanya until Tanya went for Bella's hair and started pulling on it. Then they had me hold her for awhile. The next time they wanted Bella to hold Tanya; Mom put her stuffed dog in her hand to keep her hands busy. Then the photographer wanted us to lie down on a ledge on our stomachs with Tanya in between us. Yeah, that was going to be easy. I helped Bella up the little step ladder and handed her the baby before climbing up myself.

Bella was still trying to get Tanya to lie on her stomach. She kept rolling over onto her back. Mom tried to get her attention with the stuffed dog again and it worked for a little while. Then Tanya decided that she really wanted her stuffed dog because she got up on her knees and started crawling forward. She was so quick about it that Bella and I had to jump to catch her before she fell and got hurt. And that was the end of Tanya cooperating with us. She kept fussing to be put down and the moment she hit the floor she was off. We called an end to things soon after that. We weren't going to get anymore good pictures out of her. The last straw was when Tanya reached up and pulled at the bow in her hair.

As we were gathering our stuff to leave the photographer came up to me, "I can't believe that you are so grown up. Your mom said that you and your sister are off to college soon. Look, can you do me a little favor?"

"What?"

"I have taken pictures of you and your sister since you were babies, would the two of you come in when you get your graduation gowns and let me get pictures of the two of you. Did you know your family was not only my very first clients but my very first appointment when I opened this shop?"

"I didn't know that."

"You and were sister could be difficult to get photographed. One of you was always hitting the other."

"Really?"

"Oh God, yes! You two were horrible to get to sit still and behave." Mom chimed in walking up behind me.

"I'll make sure that Alice and I get here with our gowns."

"And with your prom dates? I have taken pictures of almost every milestone in your life and have them all in my portfolio. These are two of the last ones, except for your weddings; for which I expect to be considered first."

"Let me get through graduation and at least be old enough to drink at my own wedding before we start talking wedding details ok?"

"Of course. I was just wanted to get that out there."

"But I will promise to bring Tanya back for pictures though, ok?"

"Deal. You're a good kid Edward. Your parents did a great job raising you." Then he clapped me on the back as he walked away to reset for his next appointment.

Mom was now talking to Sue about heading to the store together to buy some last minute things for the Employee BBQ that Dad wanted to throw tomorrow. He liked to have his nurses and staff and their families come over often for these BBQ's often so that they knew how much he appreciated them and all the hard work and long hours they put in for him. Tomorrow was actually going to be warm enough and actually dry enough to fire up the grill. This would be the first one that I was looking forward to attending since Bella and Tanya would be coming.

Thinking about the party reminded me that I had not had an opportunity to eat since breakfast and I was starving. I asked Bella if she wanted to go out to dinner with me and actually have a actual date . I didn't really want to drive all the way to Port Angeles but there just weren't enough healthy options here in Forks. We were just about to load Tanya into my car when Leah grabbed the car seat from me, "You guys go and get some alone time. I'll take her home and try to some video of the little stinker crawling." We thanked her and took off before she could change her mind.

After a quiet and leisurely dinner at La Bella Italia, Bella suggested that we take advantage of the rare opportunity to get a night out alone and went to see a movie. Bella picked a movie that had been out forever and for the life of me I could not understand why. I bought us each a bottle of water from the concession stand and we went to find our theatre. There was no one else in the theatre when we got in there. Bella took my hand and pulled me to the very back of the theatre and took a seat in the very back row. The other times we had gone to the movies she had insisted that we sit in the exact center of the theater and for the life of me I could not figure why all of a sudden she wanted to sit in the back. "Trust me." and a smirk was all I got out of her when I asked. She curled into my shoulder as we sat watching the commercials and all that other garbage that they put on to 'entertain' viewers while they were waiting for the movie to begin.

I took another look around the room, "We are still the only people in here," I whispered to her.

"I know. I figured it would be practically empty since everyone who wanted to see this movie has probably already seen it."

"I didn't know that you wanted to see it. I would have brought you to see it when it came out."

The lights started to dim and Bella shifted in her chair, "I never said that I wanted to watch the movie," she said with another smirk as she threw her arms around my neck and pulled me to her. She took one hand, lifting the arm rest out of her way before scooting closer me and putting her legs over mine. I opened my mouth to protest doing this in such a public place but she silenced me by kissing me. I forgot what my arguments were when she shifted again, this time she was sitting in my lap. Not only did I not care about seeing the movie either, but my girlfriend was a damn genius to think of this.

A/N:

I'm back. I literally had a hellish week. My son's conductor was fired one week before the final concert; he didn't get placed at either of the two high schools that he wanted. They put him in a school that is only known for the number of students and faculty that get arrested on school grounds. There was even a student beat to death in the school. He freaked out and I started applying to neighboring school districts and appealing for non-residence admittance through the open enrollment. Add that to the two concerts and a two day migraine and I could not find the energy or drive to actually write. I am sorry. The good news is that his season is over. All we have left is String Olympics this Saturday and his audition for next season in April.

I am also sorry that I had to end the chapter there as well, but I am at work and cannot go where I want to take this on the company computer. HI I.T. PEOPLE! (They do watch on occasion.) I will pick up where I left off tonight at my son's violin lesson. oh and pics of Bella and Tanya's dresses are on my profile page.


	81. Chapter 81

LL chapter 81

Fun in the dark

Bella was literally sitting in my lap and I was having a hard time keeping my hands from going up her skirt. She broke the kiss and pressed her forehead to mine, we were both trying hard to catch our breath. When she started squirming a little in my lap I gasped and tightened my grip on her waist which caused her to giggle. "I can't believe you did that. What's inspired this?"

"Haven't you ever wanted to do something naughty, even if it is tame to some people's standards? Sometimes I just want to be a teenager and have fun with my boyfriend. If you want me to, I'll go back to my seat and we can acutally watch the movie?"

I wrapped my arms firmly around her waist and pulled her closer to me and shook my head no which made her giggle again. "How naughty are you thinking about getting?" I asked her and then kissed her neck.

"Not too far. I don't want to, uh, remove any of my clothes or anything. I can't do that in public. But I will do this." She got up, turned, and sat back down so that she that she was facing me but straddling my legs. I couldn't stop myself from grabbing her and pulling her closer to me. We both gasped when she hit my erection. I looked at her, terrified that I had pushed her too far. Her eyes were closed and her face showed no hint of what she was thinking but her fingers were digging into my arms. I kissed her on the nose and went to help off my lap apologizing as I did so but she shook her head no and stayed where she was. After only a second or two she relaxed her body and shifted forward, rubbing into me again. The smile that now graced her face told me that she did it on purpose. Well the smile and the fact that she shifted a second time and then a third. I pulled her face to mine and kissed her again while she continued to rub against me making both of us moan.

I never would have thought that my Bella would ever behave this brazenly, but here we were in a public theatre where anyone could walk in at any minute and neither of us cared. I was so lost in how amazing it felt to have her rubbing against me that I started moving my own hips against her without realizing that I was doing it. I broke the kiss and moved my lips to her neck. She sighed and whispered, "Oh that feels so good. I never thought…this feels amazing."

"I know. I know. "It took only a few more minutes of rubbing against each other before her breaths started coming in these short gasps before she stiffened for a moment and then started shuddering as I continued to move my hips against her. Then I lost it. In my pants.

She leaned her head down on my shoulder and we sat there in silence while we both attempted to catch our breath. When she finally sat up and looked at me she was biting her lip, "I didn't mean for it to go that far, but that was so much better than I ever thought it would be."

"You've never had an orgasm before?" I was perplexed. Surely she had had one by touching herself. Didn't everyone?

"No. I tried once, recently, in the shower. My therapist suggested I try but it didn't feel right. This felt right."

"Just think of how right it will feel when we do it in private and completely naked," I said with a smirk as I kissed her.

"I think I can't wait to try that." We sat there exchanging some innocent kisses, I waited as long I could before I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to clean myself up a little. She was particularly proud of herself for getting through it without any major panic attacks. I was sure that it was headed there at one point but she was somehow able to pull herself out of it.

When I came out of the bathroom I found Bella leaning against the wall waiting for me, "Don't you want to see the rest of the movie?"

"I didn't want to see that movie at all. I just wanted some alone time with you."

I grabbed her and kissed her until she pulled back, pushing me away from her with a shocked look on her face and trying her hardest not to laugh, "Edward Cullen we are in public! Just what kind of girl do you think I am that I would behave so outrageously?"

Now it was my turn to laugh. This was definitely a new side of Bella that I was seeing tonight and I really liked it. I liked it a lot. Her self-confidence and the fact that she was always so self-assured was part of the reason that I found her so beautiful. But this feisty, frisky Bella was so sexy that I was having problem forming a coherent thought. I put my arm around her waist and turned us to head for the front doors of the theatre when Angela came out of the girls bathroom carrying a broom and dust pan. You could tell immediately that she had been crying, "Angela?" Bella let go of me to go to her, "Are you ok?"

"Whatever," was all she said before she disappeared through a door that said 'employees only'.

"I wonder what that was about." Bella mused. I just shrugged and started for the door again. I didn't even know she was working tonight. This was the first I had seen her.

We spent the hour long drive back to Forks with Bella leaning against my shoulder and listening to classical music on her IPod. Seth had read that certain classical tunes helped you relax and downloaded a bunch of them for her. Neither of us were huge fans of the music, but his heart was in the right place. And to be honest some of the tunes were really were nice and relaxing.

When I pulled into the driveway I saw the Chief peek out the window until Sue pulled him away. I laughed when I caught Bella rolling her eyes at her behavior. "Really! Like we would do anything improper or stupid while sitting in the driveway with everyone just inside the house and risk someone seeing us."

A/N:

I think it is close enough to Friday to post. I always get nervous posting anything that gets close to writing limes or lemons because I don't get really graphic. That's not in my nature. These scenes are even outside my comfort level but I believe a writer can't grow unless they are willing to push their boundaries. They did get a little carried away but he is a virgin. Technically, she is not a virgin, but this is one of the first intimate acts that she has encountered that she remembers and consented to. I hope you like it.


	82. Chapter 82

LL Chapter 82

The Little Girl Beat Me Up

I watched Bella walk into the house before I drove away. I could clearly see her grab Tanya from Charlie before turning to wave at me and shutting the door. Mom and Alice were in the kitchen doing some prep work for tomorrow when I got home. I offered to help them as I was feeling wired but they said they had it under control. I found Dad busy in his office going through some patient files so I went on up to my room for a much needed shower.

An hour later Alice came knocking on my door, "I thought we could hang out and watch a movie or something," she said as she put a DVD into the player and then crawled onto my bed next to me.

"So what did you and Bella end up doing tonight?" she asked making me choke on the water I was drinking.

"We, uh, went to dinner and then to see a movie."

"Which movie did you see? There are some great ones out right now."

I thought about it for a minute trying to remember what the name of that movie was. I guess it was taking me longer than I thought to remember because she sat up and turned toward me, "Well? Which movie?"

"I have absolutely no idea." There was no way for me hide that fact from her. She always knew when I wasn't telling her the whole truth.

"Okay…tell me about it? Who was in it or what happened? Maybe I can figure it out?"

"Umm…I have absolutely no clue."

"Edward? Did either of you actually watch said movie at all?"

"Not one second of it."

"Oh my God! You two didn't! Not in public!"

"Of course we didn't and that's all you're getting from me because I am not going there with you."

She rolled her eyes, "You are such a prude."

"No. I just think that there are some things that brothers and sisters don't need to know about each other. Furthermore, don't you think that enough people know and have discussed her history with sex with all the nasty sorted details already? Don't you think that at some point she should be allowed a little dignity and privacy?"

"I didn't think about it that way. I guess I sometimes forget that she hasn't had the best history with sex."

"Just don't push her to talk about it, alright? She has come so far and I don't want her to suffer any set backs, you know?"

"Yeah. She did tell us that you told her that it was up to her to choose when she was ready to take things to a higher level, that you haven't pushed her at all."

"I would never push her. It's totally her call." 

"So, you're saying that she jumped you at the movie theatre?"

"Alice!" I warned.

"Fine. Fine". She finally shut up and we watched the rest of the movie in silence.

I woke the next morning to the strangest feeling that I was being watched. I didn't get a chance to open my eyes and look before I was attacked. I mean literally attacked by someone grabbing and pulling my hair while smacking at my face. I mean, for a tiny little thing she can really smack hard. At least Bella thought it was funny that her daughter was beating me up.

"I wasn't expecting to wake up to two such beautiful faces, though I could have lived without the beat down."

"She does smack hard. But you better get used to it. She does it all the time now. Sue says it's just a phase that most babies go through and she'll eventually grow out of it. I am so glad I have her and Dad to go to for things like this. As much as I love and miss her, I don't think my Mom wouldn't have been much help to me. She was always flighty and thought of herself more than anyone else."

"Did you have to come early to help with the cooking or do?"

"Nope. Sue came early to help cook. I grabbed a ride with her since this one had me up at the crack of dawn this morning."

"Is that something else that I am going to have to get used to?"

"Oh yes. She is definitely not one to sleep in."

She leaned down to kiss me and Tanya took her opportunity to attack again. This time she went after both of us, pulling our hair and laughing at our pain. Once we got her to finally let us go, Bella took her back downstairs while I took a shower and got dressed. By the time I got downstairs Dad was on the floor playing with her.

"Where's Bella?"

"She got kidnapped by your sister. She said something about girl talk." I groaned and hoped that Alice listened to what I said last night. I wanted to run upstairs and make sure that she was alright but Mom stuck her head out of the kitchen and asked me to go outside and clean off the patio and set out some lawn chairs.

Bella was in the kitchen feeding Tanya when I finally got back inside. I leaned down to kiss her and while she was distracted Tanya reached into the bowl of applesauce and proceeded to fling some at us.

"See! She doesn't want to you two making out either," Seth teased us as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a pop out of the fridge.

"It's not like we are constantly kissing in front of people, like you and your girlfriend do. I hide in my room when she comes over to 'study'. And I use the term study loosely because no books are ever opened and according Sue your grades are slipping. She and Dad are going to ban you from seeing her if you don't get it together."

Seth just groaned and left the room without another word. Bella smirked and cleaned her face with the rag that I handed her, "I know exactly how to get rid of that boy."

I sat with Bella until it was she was done feeding Tanya. I carried Tanya as we went to join the others in the living room. There were already a good number of people from Dad's office there as well as the Hales, the McCarty's, and Bella and I both groaned when we saw Angela walking through the door with her parents. She looked up at us and she didn't look happy to be here either. In fact, she looked furious.

A/N:

Happy Tuesday! I forgot to mention before that I posted a pic of Bella and Tanya's dresses for the pictures on my profile. Check it out if you are interested. If you bought the Juvenile Diabetes Compilation we were informed today that it is delayed until the 18th.

I have to start doing physical therapy every Friday for six weeks starting on the 30th of this month so I may have to move the Friday updates til Saturday during that time frame. That's just a warning; I have no idea what is going to happen.

I love you all and your reviews make me smile. Please forgive errors. I really didn't get have the energy to edit a lot. I'm off to bed.


	83. Chapter 83

LL Chapter 83

Confrontations

Angela was acting really strange all afternoon. Once in a while I would get the feeling that someone was watching me and it would be her. I would have said something to her to get her to back off back. But the only thing that causing a scene would accomplish was angering my parents. They would see it as insulting a in their home. Getting in trouble with my parents was not on my list of things that I wanted to do today. Now dragging Bella off to somewhere private and kissing her senseless was definitely something that I wanted to do and to be honest I was just looking for an opportunity to do so. One just hadn't presented itself where we weren't at risk of getting caught by her Dad. Just because he wasn't wearing his uniform today didn't mean that he wasn't arm or least had a gun hidden in his car.

The adults had moved themselves out to the back yard when Dad was ready to fire up the grill. Us 'kids' decided to sprawl out on the front lawn where there was less shade from the trees. It was rare to see such warm, sunny weather around here in mid-march. Bella was really enjoying lying in the sun on a blanket with Alice and Leah. I was on another blanket with Tanya, Jasper, and Emmett. Emmett had Tanya sitting in his lap. I would roll a ball to them and Emmett would help her roll it back to me. Tanya really loved this game and laughing like crazy. At one point I looked over and caught Bella watching us with a contented smile on her face.

The only time that we spent any time at all with the adults was when Mom came around to the front and told us that the food was ready and to come eat. Dad made such a huge variety of food that it was hard to decide what to get. Alice told us that there were three different kinds of burgers, lean hamburger, turkey, and tofu. All of them would be healthy options. Neither Bella nor I were remotely interested in the tofu or turkey burgers but grabbed the regular ones, some green salad, and low fat pasta salad.

After lunch Emmett and I brought the play crib outside for Tanya to take a nap in so we could watch her and still enjoy the outdoors. While we were busy moving it outside Alice raided the garage and found our old badminton set. We decided to a play two a side tournament.

A couple of hours later, Bella and I had just lost again, this time to Rose and Emmett when Tanya woke up from her nap screaming for our attention. I kissed Bella on the cheek and told her that I would take care of her. I picked her up and immediately discovered her problem; she was so soaked that her diaper had leaked.

As I was cleaning her up, Mrs. Webber came into the living came over to where we were on the couch, "She's adorable and you are very good with her."

"Thanks, But Bella does the majority of the work. I just help when I can. It also helps that she is such a good baby too."

"You help her more than I think you realize, Edward. And not just with the baby. You've helped that girl heal. She is not the same girl that moved here last fall. She's happier and healthier, well somewhat healthier. I see a major difference in the group meetings."

"Thank you Mrs. Webber."

"EDWARD!" We were interrupted by Emmett running into the house, "You need to get back out here before your girlfriend starts beating on Angela." 

"Why is Bella going to beat on my daughter?" 

"OH! Mrs. Webber, I didn't know you were there. Uh, Angela, well, I hate to be a snitch and I don't know what her problem is, but she out there trying to start trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Mrs. Webber looked surprised. Angela really wasn't one to cause trouble, especially if her parents were near.

"She started with deliberately hitting Bella with the birdie every time she hit it. Now she keeps lightly clipping Bella with the racket."

"I don't understand, why would she be angry with Bella? I thought they were good friends."

Emmett snorted, "Not likely."

"Angela is upset that I chose to date Bella over her. I think she saw Bella and I kissing at the movies last night."

"That would explain why she tried to get out of coming here today." Our conversation was interrupted by a scream that sounded like it came from Bella. I grabbed Tanya and the three of us ran out the front door to see what had happened. We came out onto the front lawn to see that war had erupted.

"I said it was an accident!" Angela yelled facing off against Bella, Rose, Alice, Jessica, and Leah. Jasper and Seth were standing off the side. They looked as though they were trying to stay out of it yet were reading to jump in and separate the girls if necessary.

"What happened?" I asked as I walked up to Jasper.

"Bella gave up trying to play with Angela and Rose took her place. Bella said she was going to head inside to help you. That just pissed off Angela more. Sorry about the language, Mrs. Webber," he apologized after noticing that she had joined our conversation. "Then Angela's racket "accidentally," and yes he used the air quotes, "flew out of her hand and hit Bella in the back of the head."

I didn't get a chance to respond to him before I heard Bella screaming again, "What the fuck is your problem?"

"You are my problem!"

"You need to get over it, Angela. He never wanted you and he never will. You need to stop acting so psychotic!"

"And you need to stop acting like you are so special. You're nothing but a common whore!"

Then there was nothing but stunned silence. I took all of one second to look around and realized that all the adults had come around from the back yard to see what the commotion was. I was just moving forward to intervene and get involved myself. NO ONE was going to get away with talking to Bella like that. I took all of two steps forward when I heard a strange voice speak up, "Don't you _ever_ speak to Bella that way again."

Bella's eyes went wide when she realized that we had been joined by three teenagers. There were two girls and a guy, the girl in front was tall, slender, and had long black hair. The other girl was shorter, a little chunky and had her hair dyed hot pink and electric blue. The guy that was with them looked like he just stepped out of one of those fashion magazines Alice liked to read. "What are you doing here?" Bella finally gasped out.

I walked up behind her, still holding Tanya, and wrapped my arm around Bella's waist. I knew that I was egging Angela on but I didn't care.

"Is that your daughter Bella? She's beautiful." The girl in the front spoke up. She took a step forward causing Bella to take a step back.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" I asked them.

"That's Riley," the boy waved, "Courtney," she pointed to the girl with the dyed hair," and Cassie. They're from Phoenix. They were my friends." It clicked with me instantly; these were the so-called friends that turned on her when she needed them the most. Why the hell were they here? And why now? I had a strong urge to hand Tanya to Bella and make sure that they were safely behind me where none of them could hurt her again.

A/N:

Yes, Angela went there and in front of her parents too! It's pretty close to Friday. I love you guys and your reviews always make me smile. See you Tuesday!


	84. Chapter 84

LL Chapter 84

Aftermath

I didn't get to question the trio from Arizona further before Angela's parents intervened. They were absolutely livid at her behavior. I would have felt sorry for her if she hadn't attacked Bella. Had Angela always been this insane? Maybe she had been and I just never saw it because I never paid her much attention.

"Angela Bridgette Webber. Go wait for us by the car young lady." Mrs. Webber ordered her and then turned to say something to my parents.

When Angela had to nerve to open her mouth again, her father cut her off, "Not another word out of you. You've said enough today. Now, do what your mother told you to do before you get yourself in even more trouble." Angela wisely figured out how to shut up and she turned and stomped off to wait by the car as ordered.

"I'm so sorry about her behavior," Mrs. Webber apologized to my parents, "I have no idea what has gotten into her lately." Then they exchanged hugs and handshakes with my parents and turned to leave.

I moved closer to Bella and wrapped my arm around her before turning my attention back to the three uninvited guests that were quietly watching and waiting.

"Why are you here and how did you know where to find me? This isn't my house."

"Well, we stopped at this little diner when we pulled into town and this cop was there and told us that you would be here. He said that it would be ok to for us head on out here because there was a party and all." This Cassie girl seemed to be the ring leader and spokesman of the group.

"You still haven't told us _why_ you're here." I spoke up.

Cassie looked at me and then over at Bella, "I, we just wanted a chance to talk to you and apologize, to beg you to forgive us."

"You apologized when I talked to you on the phone."

"I know," Cassie looked down at her feet before lifting her head again and looking Bella right in the eye, "Yes, but it means nothing if I don't look you in the eye and do it in person. I owe you that at least. Even if you can never forgive me, um, us," she said looking back at the two behind her, "Which we would understand completely, at least we can say that we offered a real apology."

I looked over to Bella who was standing there with her eyes closed. It looked like she was actually contemplating hearing these people out. I knew she was a forgiving person, I mean she forgave me and Jessica for the way that we treated her when she first came here. I wanted to tell her not to listen to them, to tell them to go to hell. They had their chance to be her friend and they blew it by being mean to her and hurting her. Cassie was guiltier than the others and in my opinion, didn't even deserve to be near Bella let alone allowed to beg for forgiveness. Bella's attackers could have gone free and she didn't care. All she had to do was testify but she got scared and refused. Did she think that Bella wasn't scared to face those guys in court?

"How long are you planning to stay here?" Bella asked them.

"That depends on you. If you want us to, we'll leave first thing in the morning."

"I see," She turned towards me, "would you come with me to talk to them?"

I put my free hand up to her face, "Of course I will." I was sure that I could talk Emmett, Jasper, and Seth into following us in case these three tried to hurt her. There was no way that I was going to trust them. I wondered if I could talk Charlie into coming with us and bringing his gun.

"This is my boyfriend's parent's home and we are being very rude by interrupting their party. Meet us at the diner in town at seven and we can talk."

The three of them looked back at me holding Tanya and smile. "Of course. We didn't come here to cause trouble. We're sorry for interrupting." They turned without another word and returned to their car and left. Our guests that were colleagues of dad's went back to the back yard to continue the meals and games.

I turned to Bella, "I don't think we should go alone though. I think we should take at least Emmett and Jasper with us. Maybe Seth."

"We are going to be in the diner Edward; it's public and busy on Sunday nights. We'll be fine."

"I agree with Edward, Bella." Charlie spoke up. "I really don't think you two should go alone. These kids were cruel to you and you have no idea what they are planning. I would also suggest that you leave Tanya home."

"I'll watch her." Alice offered.

Bella looked around at all of us and sighed, "I don't think they'd start anything. What if they are being honest and they just want to talk?"

"But you don't know that for sure. I think Edward and your Dad are right. I'm going to be there even if I have to sit at another table to watch out for you two." Emmett informed her in a tone that left no room for arguments.

By the time that we finally got Bella to agree that there was safety in numbers everyone but Alice and Jessica were going with us. There were both staying here with Mom and Dad and watching Tanya. I was relieved that Dad was going to be here. Charlie said the same thing to me after Bella went back into the house to get a drink. He also told me that he was also going to have a deputy make a drive by of the house a couple times tonight and one stop by the diner while we were there. I really didn't care if Bella thought that we were being paranoid, there was nothing more important to me and to her father than her and Tanya's safety.

The rest of the party went on like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Rose and Emmett left at half past two so that she could go to her victims group meeting at the church. When I got finally got Bella alone for a moment by dragging her into the dining room, I asked her if she was going to go to the meeting too, but she laughed and said it was probably better that she not go anywhere near Angela or the church again today.

"Don't let her scare you away from places you want to be."

"She's not. I mean it. I wasn't planning to go today anyway. I don't go every week anymore."

"You don't?"

"I don't feel like I need it now. I don't feel like I'm a victim. I'm a survivor. And after yesterday," she moved closer to me and wrapped her arms around my neck, "I am more positive than ever that I am going to be just fine and one day all of this will be behind me." Then she kissed me.

"Are you ok after what happened with Angela?"

"Aside from being absolutely mortified that she actually saw us and watched us in a very private moment yesterday, I think I am. It's really nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to Angela; well, except for the physical attack. That was new."

"Did she hurt you?"

"No. She just pissed me off more than anything. She really needs to get over this and leave us alone. It's completely pathetic."

"It won't be long and we'll be in California and we won't have to deal with her anymore."

We stayed there in the dining room making out until we realized that we had been gone way too long and someone could come looking for us at any moment. I really did not want to find out that another one of our private moments was intruded upon this weekend.

A/N:

Happy Tuesday! Today is my son's 14th birthday. How did he get to be this old? He was just a baby yesterday and now he getting ready to start high school and talking about driving *sobs*

I'll see you on Friday with the meeting at the diner. I signed up for another compilation. This one is for autism. My mother has a co-worker whose three sons are all autistic. Two of them have to live in a group home. I am now trying to decide what to outtake to write. It will be this story but I can't decide whether to do more Bella. Leah? Sue? If you have a suggestion please let me know. Even if you aren't buying the compilation I will eventually post it here.


	85. Chapter 85

LL Chapter 85

The Diner

I was nervous as hell as Bella and drove to the diner to meet her so called friends from Phoenix. I had observed that was the afternoon wore on Bella had become increasingly nervous and edgy about the meeting. I was glad that we had so many of our friends meeting us there for moral support. I was even happier that Tanya was safe and sound back I house.

When we pulled into the diner we found that Jasper, Emmett and Rose had already beaten them there and had secured a table large enough for everyone they was coming. We had barely sat down when Leah, Seth, and Jessica walked in and joined us. Bella's 'friends' walked in right behind them and were taken aback to see Bella and I surrounded by so many people. I guessed they had been assuming that we were going to be alone. Or maybe they were just hoping that we would be alone so we would be easier targets.

They nervously walked over to the table and took their seats as the waitress came over to take our drink orders. They gave us the strangest looks when we all ordered apple juice and they ordered soda.

"We thought you'd bring the baby with you?" the one with Cassie spoke up.

"My sister, Alice wanted to babysit. She's leaving for France for college soon and she is determined to spend as much time as possible with Tanya before she goes. We're all more than a little attached to the little angel."

"Oh." She said. "So you have lots of people to watch her while you go out and have fun then, huh?" The one with the weird hair spoke up. I think that Bella said her name was Courtney. I bristled at her comment because I could swear that I was hearing a definite snideness in her tone. It sounded almost like she was accusing Bella of ditching her daughter with sitters so that we could run around town wild and free all the time. That was until I looked up and saw the looks of shock on our friend's faces. Yeah, that was exactly what she was implying.

"I don't go out without her all that often. Unless I am at school or a doctor's appointment, it is rare that she is not with me." Bella replied quickly. I wanted to tell her that she had no reason to defend the times that we did leave her with a sitter but that was extent of her answer to them. I took her hand in mine under the table to show her that I was here supporting her.

Things were quiet for a minute when the waitress brought our drinks and asked if we were ready to order. We motioned for our guests to order first. All three of them ordered double cheese burgers with fries. _We _each ordered a grilled chicken salad and a fruit plate. Except for Emmett who ordered two grilled chicken salads, a spinach salad, and three fruit plates. His reasoning was that he needed to keep his weight up for football. I could see that. No team wanted a skinny linebacker.

"You guys on a group diet or are do you all have an eating disorder?" The blue haired one laughed.

Cassie, for her part, turned to the girl and told her to be nice or shut up. The girl huffed and sat back in her seat but thankfully shut her mouth because between Jessica, Leah, and Rose I was unsure who was going to smack her first. Bella calmly told them that we were all following her heart healthy diet to show support for her since she was still having heart trouble.

"Well that's just dumb. Why would you give up the foods you love for someone else? Especially Bella. I sure as hell wouldn't."

"I don't doubt that for a second. But we love Bella and want to show her that and we want to support her in any way that we can." I snapped at her.

By the time that our food arrived I was even more than irritated. No. I wasn't irritated anymore, I was completely pissed off. We had been here for about twenty minutes and they had asked Bella a ton of questions, most of them bordering on rude, and Courtney, the weird one, continued to make snide insinuations. The boy, Riley, hadn't said one word since he told the waitress his order. He just said there listening and watching.

As the comments continued I was getting closer and closer to losing really my temper and I wasn't the only one. They were being rude and obnoxious without coming out and straight forward verbally attacking Bella. Well Courtney was and Riley smiled at her comments but Cassie looked horrified at the things that were coming out of Courtney's mouth. She did try to stop her and control the situation but Courtney was beyond anyone's control. But what I found to be the worst part was that I had yet to hear even one of them utter the words "I'm sorry" or "Forgive me" or some variation of an apology. I would have taken any variation of an apology at all at this point. It was, after all, what they said they had come here to do.

After a while I could no longer avoid the fact that I really needed to use the bathroom. I was not really worried anymore that they would do anything that would hurt Bella physically. At this point they were the ones in danger of being attacked. I would never have entertained the thought of leaving the table if I hadn't looked behind seen Chief Swan and his deputy sneak into the diner a few minutes ago. They had taken a table that was on the other side of the diner where they could see us but probably couldn't hear what we were saying. They were good at this undercover stuff. I could barely see them from where we were sitting. I think the only reason that I saw them was because I knew that they were there. Bella didn't know they were there and I don't think that anyone else at the table saw them come into the diner either.

I found Charlie standing in the bathroom when I came out of the stall and walked over to the sink to wash my hands, "What are they up too?"

"They are mainly just fishing for information. I'll tell you if that freaky one with the weird hair makes one more snide remark to Bella, I am going to let Leah attack her."

"That bad?"

"Chief, everything out of that girl's mouth has been rude and not one of them has even bothered to offered the apology that they claimed they came here to give. I'm about to insist that Bella and I leave."

"That might be for the best. At least now she can definitely have some closure on that part of her life."

"I don't understand how she could be friends with that girl."

"I heard a lot about Cassie over the years. She and Bella were always close. All I know about what happened was that those two bastards had their friends calling Cassie's house threatening to rape and kill her whole family and she panicked and backed out of testifying. It pisses me off because Bella endured some much more and she stood her ground against them. I don't know much about the other girl except Bella said that they hung out on a rare occasion. What about that boy? What is he like?" Whoa! I think that was the first time I had ever heard the Chief swear.

I told Charlie that all he had just been sitting there letting the girls do all the talking. "I should get back out there. I've been in here too long and Bella will get suspicious soon."

We stepped out of the bathroom just in time to see Bella was jump up from her chair, pick up her glass and throw her juice all over Courtney.

"You bitch!" the girl shrieked at Bella.

"You would know since you're the biggest bitch I've ever seen!" The only thing we could hear after that was the cheering of our friends.

A/N:

Happy Friday! Is anyone going to see Hunger Games? I am. I have no idea what it's about but my son and niece have read the books and are excited to see it! I am just going to see the BD2 teaser trailer. OK. For some reason I slipped into third person in the middle of writing this so if I missed anything in editing please forgive me and let me know so I can fix it. See you Tuesday where we'll find out exactly what Courtney said to make Bella snap.


	86. Chapter 86

LL Chapter 86

The proverbial bitchslap

I bee-lined it to Bella and with the Chief hot on my heels, "What the hell happened?" I demanded not caring one bit that I was swearing in front of Bella and her father. I was only gone a couple of minutes.

"It doesn't matter what they said. I'm done here. "

"Bella please! I'm sorry. I didn't know she was going to behave that way! PLEASE!" Cassie pleaded with Bella to stay.

Bella just turned and started to leave and I took off after here. By the time we got to the car she was in tears. I grabbed her, pulled her into arms, and just held her as she cried. I had no idea what that girl said to upset Bella this bad. I didn't understand why she would want to hurt Bella like that? Bella never hurt anyone. I was tempted to turn and go back into the diner and have it out with that bitch. But I decided that the best way to protect her was to get her as far away from here as possible.

I helped her into the car and to get buckled before walking around the car. I stopped before getting in and looked back at the diner and I could still see Chief Swan and his deputy trying to keep order and diffuse the situation. From what I could see more food was being thrown and the management of the diner was not amused at all.

We drove back to my house in absolute silence. I thought that Bella was just lost in her thoughts but by when I stopped the car I noticed that she had fallen asleep. I had no idea what to do. Did I carry her into the house and try to get her up to the guest room? Did I leave Bella in the car while I ran into the house real quick to get Tanya and drive them home?

I was actually relieved when Bella woke up when I shut the car off. We sat there for a few minutes in more silence before I finally asked, "Do you want to tell me what they said to finally push you over the edge?"

"UGH! I just…I can't believe I did that. I am so embarrassed." She smiled a little when I looked at her like she was crazy. "Don't get me wrong, I totally believe that she deserved it but I shouldn't have let her upset me like that. I am better than that."

"Everyone loses their temper once in a while. I don't think that anyone who is really your friend is upset with you. In fact I think they were all proud of you for standing up to them and fighting back."

"The thing is Courtney was never like this. She was always so shy and sweet. I don't understand what happened to make her so cruel."

"I don't know."

"I was getting really agitated and Jasper leaned over and warned me that I needed to calm down before I ended up in the emergency room again. She accused me of sleeping with him too. And she outright called me a whore. Well, she put it a lot cruder than that. I am sure that you can figure out how she worded it. Anyway, I had had it and anyway I lost it and attacked her."

"I don't blame you. I would have lost my temper too."

"Yeah, but I was giving her exactly the reaction that she was looking for."

"Bella, I really doubt she was looking for you to throw your juice all over her. More than likely the reaction she was looking for was tears."

"We should go get Tanya so I can get her home and put her to bed."

I knew that she was attempting to avoid talking about it anymore. I didn't blame her. There was no point in dwelling on it any more than she had.

I ran around the car to open her door for her and helped her out of the car. We got as far as the front steps and she sat down on them and started crying again. She buried her head in my chest and sobbed. Alice poked her head out of the door and when she saw us on the stairs she ran back into the house and came back a minute later with Mom and Dad.

Mom came down onto the stairs and wrapped her arm around Bella's waist and with her other had she started stroking Bella's hair and whispering in her ear. It took Bella a few more minutes before she had calmed down enough again to let go of me.

"They were (hic) my best friends since kindergarten (hic). The four of us (hic) did everything together. We were rarely (hic) separated if we were awake. (hic) I never…I never dreamed that they wouldn't stand behind me…that they (hic) would (hic) would turn on me like they did before. But (hic) tonight was (hic) they were just too (hic) cruel to fathom. I don't understand why (hic) they hate me so much."

Bella allowed Mom and me to help her stand and we guided her into the house where we sat with her on the couch. Alice went to get her a glass of water while Dad checked her heart rate. He had grabbed her wrist and told her to take slow deep breaths. She leaned her head against my shoulder.

"Oh my God. She's asleep!" Alice whispered as she approached us with the glass of water. I looked down and sure enough Bella's eyes were closed. I had Alice run upstairs and grab a pillow and blanket for her. Mom and Dad held her up as I slipped off the couch and put the pillow down for her as they gently laid her down on the couch.

"Where is Tanya?"

"She fell asleep a while ago so we put her in the portable crib in the guest room." Alice told me and she handed me the baby monitor.

We followed Mom and Dad to the kitchen where we sat at the table and I recounted what had happened at the diner. I was so glad that we had insisted on everyone going and leaving the baby here. Bella would have been even more upset if she had taken her daughter into a situation like that. After I was done talking I laid my head down on the table while Dad called Chief Swan to get an update on what happened after we left and to let him know that Bella was currently fast asleep on our couch.

Dad was still talking to Charlie five minutes later when I got up and walked out of the room and ran upstairs to the guestroom. I sat there watching Tanya sleeping soundly. She was so beautiful, just like her mother and she looked like she was an absolute angel when she was asleep like this. I could see so much of Bella in her.

"Charlie said to just let her sleep." Dad suddenly appeared behind me startling me. I just nodded. "He also offered to come get Tanya but I told him that she was sleeping soundly and we would be fine keeping her overnight."

"Yeah. I'll be fine keeping an ear out for her."

"Actually, I meant that your Mom and I would watch her."

"Thanks Dad. But I got it. I'm exhausted. I think I'll go to bed."

"That's probably a good idea. Good night, son." I nodded as I yawned and walked out the door making sure that I turned the baby monitor back on. I walked into my room too tired to bother taking a shower so I just threw on some pajama pants and just collapsed in my bed. When I woke the next morning I was surprised to find that I was no longer alone in my bed. Bella had joined me at some point in the night.

A/N:

Happy Tuesday! Thanks to everyone that reviews. They mean the world to me. I have decided that for the autism outtake I am going to write certain scenes from Bella's POV. If there is a chapter that you would like to see let me know. See you on Friday!


	87. Chapter 87

LL Chapter 87

Surprise visitor

I was really taken aback to wake up and find Bella in my bed with me. She was definitely not there when I went to sleep. I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock and panicked when I realized that it was already after eight. I sat up really quick, looking for the baby monitor wondering why Tanya hadn't woken up yet when I realized that not only was the baby monitor not on my desk where I specifically left it but my door was wide open. Someone other than Bella had come in here. Man, I really must have been sleeping like the dead to miss two people sneaking into my room. I swear, if a serial killer every let loose in Forks, I was dead meat.

I wandered out into the hall and down to the guest room where Tanya had been sleeping and found that she was no longer in the room. Mom or Alice must have grabbed the monitor and let Bella and I sleep in.

I made my way downstairs knowing that I would most likely find everyone still in the kitchen. Yes, there they were and there was Alice wearing more plum-applesauce and scrambled eggs than Tanya had probably eaten, "Didn't I warn you to that you have to wear the bib and not her?" I teased my sister.

I sat down at the table next to Tanya's high chair and leaned over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Mom sat a grapefruit that was cut in half with a little sugar on it in front of me for breakfast. Grapefruit really wasn't my favorite thing for breakfast but I was hungry and didn't feel like getting up and making anything else.

Bella was still not awake by the time that I was done eating and Alice gave up on trying to get Tanya to eat anymore. I grabbed Tanya out of her highchair and took her sink to clean her up.

"Alice you just may need to hose yourself off in the backyard to get all the food out of your hair," Dad teased her as she ran out of the room claiming to just needing a shower. Mom and I decided that a full bath was going to be necessary in order to clean up Tanya so she ran some water in the sink while I got her ready.

We had just gotten her redressed when the door bell rang. I told my parents that I would get the door since I was headed for the living room anyway. When I stepped out into the living room Alice had beaten me to it and was angrily talking to whoever it was. "What are you doing here? You're not welcome here. Now go away." For a minute I thought that she was talking to Angela but I had heard from Rose last night that Angela's parents had grounded her indefinitely for her behavior this weekend. The only place that she was allowed to go was a homeless shelter in Port Angeles that needed help cooking and cleaning. And she was now volunteering to help out. What a way to start spring break.

As I got closer to the door I saw that it was Cassie at the door. I walked up to the door to tell her to leave myself but the minute she saw me she started in on me, "Please Edward. I just want to talk to her. I am so sorry about yesterday. About everything. PLEASE! Just tell her that I am here."

"What make you think that Bella is here?"

"You're holding her baby. If the baby is here she must be here too."

"That doesn't mean she's here. I've watched Tanya overnight by myself before."

"Really? Why would you do that? She's not your kid." 

I wasn't going to respond to that. I just started to shut the door in her face, "Wait! Please wait! I'm sorry! I really am. I didn't mean that to be rude. I just don't understand the relationships that she has here. I never expected to find her so…"

"So what…happy?" 

"I guess. She really wouldn't tell me much about her life up here the few times that I've been able to get her on the phone. She's kind of hard to catch."

"She's kind of busy raising a baby."

"Please. I need to talk to her before I go."

"Where are your friends?" 

"Riley drove Courtney to the airport in Port Angeles last night and made sure that she got on a plane to Colorado. He decided to stay at the motel and rest while I came here. Then we're leaving town."

"Why is Courtney going to Colorado? She hates the cold more than I do." Bella walked up behind me. I hadn't even heard her come down the stairs. I really need to learn to become more observant.

"Her dad had some kind of midlife crisis and quit his job and moved to Vail to be a ski instructor."

"Oh…uh…what?"

"Yeah, it shocked everyone. Especially her mom. Woman rightfully has a lot of anger issues."

"Alice will you take Tanya while Edward and I talk to Cassie."

"Bella, you don't have to do this. You don't owe her anything and after last night I think this is a really bad idea."

"I agree with Edward, Bella."

"This is different. Unlike last night, I am not going into this thinking that I am going to be talking to a friend. I don't trust her anymore than you guys do, that is why I want Edward with me, but I _am_ willing to hear her out so I never regret not doing so."

"I have to be crazy to go along with this but ok." I handed Tanya over to my sister and followed Bella and Cassie out to the front porch. I was positive that, along with my parents, Alice was going to be listening to us through the open living room windows.

Bella and I sat down on the porch swing and I pulled her into my arms and held onto her tight while we waited for Cassie to start.

"I'm sorry. I am so sorry for everything. Everything that I did. That I should have done but didn't. I am really sorry that I've lost your friendship. Courtney had no right to talk to you that way. I think she expected to find you miserable and alone so she'd finally have someone that she thought she could relate too. I never expected her to attack you like that."

"I don't get her being so cruel now. I've only been gone a few months."

"It all started right before you left. You were on bed rest and your family wasn't allowing any calls through to you when she tried calling. Her dad just literally came home one day walked up to her mom and announced that he had filed for divorce and was moving out that night. I should know. I was sitting right there in the kitchen with Courtney and her Mom. At the divorce hearing her mom found out that he had quit his job and was preparing to move to Colorado. So here was her Mom having been a stay at home wife and mother all these years suddenly on her own with no alimony, very little child support, an extremely expensive mortgage and no job. They had to sell the house and move in with her Uncle Aro." Bella gasped at that.

"Who is this Uncle Aro?" I asked.

"He's an asshole who hates all kids and teenagers. I met him once. Courtney had to stay with him once while her parents were out of town. I went by with Cassie to pick her up for school. He was so nasty and rude to us and we were only there for, like, one minute."

"The only thing he hates more than children and teenagers; are female children and teenagers. But they had no where else to go." Cassie continued. "She's not allowed to have friends over. He made her get a job to help pay bills. You know he actually told her that she is lucky that she was a senior in high school or she would have been shipped off to boarding school."

"He does sound like an ass. But that is no excuse for treating Bella like she did."

"I know its not and that is why I sent her on to Colorado with out us. We were going to try to spend a few days here with you and then go to Colorado, spend a night or two with her dad, and then drive home."

"I'm sorry her life fell apart but I won't stand by while anyone tries to attack me-verbally or physically."

"Yeah, you were awesome last night."

"She's lucky Bella didn't go all Judo on her last night."

"Judo?"

"I've been taking classes with Edward's sister."

"Cool. That is really cool. You have an awesome life here and people who really love you."

"Yes, I do." Bella said smiling at me.

"Hey who was that girl that was throwing the tantrum here yesterday? What was her deal? If I may ask that is."

"She's just some delusional twit that is angry that I chose to date Bella after years of refusing to date anyone at all."

"It didn't help that she accidentally saw Edward and I in a private moment."

"I don't think that there was anyway that she was in there accidentally."

"I know, but I was just trying to give her the benefit of the doubt."

We talked for a couple of more hours and Cassie wasn't as bad as I originally thought she was. Truth be told, Cassie and Riley never said anything bad to or about Bella last night. That was all Courtney. Riley never said a word and I was still not sold on him. But Cassie was nice, when she was on her own.

We moved into the house when it started to rain. We all sat in the living room, including my parents, and talked some more while Tanya crawled around the living room. She was really getting the hang of this mobility thing.

One thing that we did learn is what happened after we left. Jessica and Leah really went after Courtney. Apparently Charlie was forced to physically restrain Jessica when she attempted to jump over the table to get to Courtney. Jasper got her out of the diner and drove her home before Charlie had to arrest her. Once the situation was properly diffused Charlie suggested that Courtney leave town soon and without bothering his daughter again or he'd see to it that a restraining order was issued. Man. Charlie was every shade of awesome for that.

Cassie said that she was going to go pick up Riley and load the car and they were going to take off. After she was gone I asked Bella what she wanted to do tonight, "You know what? I just want to relax and watch TV."

"That sounds good to me." I told her.

"Esme, how about if I treat you to dinner and a movie in Port Angeles tonight?"

"Now that sounds like a plan. I say we see the same movie Edward and Bella did the other night. From what I understand they really enjoyed it." I groaned at mom's comments and Bella looked absolutely mortified while she and dad just laughed and started walking out of the room. "Oh Edward. Bella. Here is an important lesson. Never do anything in public that you wouldn't do in front of your parents. It will keep you out of trouble." I was speechless. Absolutely speechless.

A/N:

Happy Friday. I wasn't sure that this was going to be done in time for a Friday post. I am an avid fan of the Black Dagger Brotherhood and the new book was released on Tuesday. Needless to say, I dropped everything to read it. I got lucky and had some really chatty characters today. See you Tuesday with some semi alone time and some more exploring.


	88. Chapter 88

LL Chapter 88

Alone time

After my parent's went upstairs to get ready to go out I told Bella that I was just going to run upstairs to get a shower and get dressed as I had just realized that I was still wearing my pajamas. I came back downstairs twenty minutes later to find that Tanya had fallen asleep. Bella said that she just collapsed in mid crawl. I gave Bella my car keys and told her to run home and get changed and I'd stay behind with Tanya. She was a little apprehensive about taking off in my car but in the end I think her desire for a shower and clean clothes won out.

She hadn't been gone long before Jasper showed up to pick up Alice for a date and soon after that my parents left. I guess they really were going to see a movie. I really did love that my parents were affectionate and let us know that they loved each other. Emmett's parents did a lot of arguing and rarely spent any time with each other. He told me once that he sees them getting a divorce after he leaves for college. It is sad that he really is resigned to it and in some ways looking forward to it happening. He's stayed at my house in the past to avoid the fighting. Like I said, I loved that my parents showed us they loved each other, I was just hoping that they weren't going to show that love to the world tonight.

After Bella had been gone an hour I went to the kitchen and started looking for something to make for dinner. I found some leftovers from the party yesterday. I started assembling two plates and then I threw together a green salad. Then I decided to make a pitcher of the lemonade that Bella and I both loved. By the time that I finished with that it was almost time for Tanya to wake up and when she did she was going to be really hungry. I grabbed some jars of baby food that Alice had made and stored in the refrigerator; turkey and sweet potatoes and got to warming them up.

I was just spooning them onto Tanya's plate when I heard Bella return.

"I hope you didn't eat while you were home, but I worked really hard at making us dinner."

"You worked really hard at reheating us dinner," she corrected me.

"It was still hard work. And I did make lemonade and a salad."

"Well, I think I can find some way of making it up to you."

"I'm going to hold you to that." I grabbed her and kissed her.

"Where is your family?"

"Out for the evening. We have the whole house to ourselves."

"Well, that certainly sounds promising."

"It does, doesn't it?" I went to kiss her again but we were interrupted by giggling from the living room. Bella went to retrieve Tanya while I finished getting her dinner ready and started our dinner warming in the oven.

We had just finished cleaning up from dinner when there was a knock on the door. "I'll get the door and you get her bag for me." She said as she ran from the kitchen.

"What is your mama up to?" I asked Tanya as I grabbed her from the highchair and carried her to the living room. I was somewhat surprised to find Leah standing there talking to Bella.

Leah came over to us carrying Tanya's sweater, "I am going to babysit and you two are getting a quiet night in. You need it after yesterday."

Was she serious? I was going to have time alone, in private, with Bella. As much as I love Tanya I was thrilled that Bella had arranged for a sitter tonight. I took only a couple more minutes to get them out the door. We watched until we could no longer see Leah's headlights going down the drive.

"I was thinking that we could watch a movie in your room?"

"Well, I think that you have brilliant ideas." I grabbed her hand and started pulling her toward the stairs. I accidentally made her trip over the first step and she fell forward nearly knocking me down in the process. I went to turn to catch her but she just pushed me down and ran past me laughing. I jumped back up chasing her down the hall to my room. I caught her just as she hit my door. I scooped her up in my arms and threw the both of us down on my bed.

We landed with me halfway on top of her. I leaned down and kissed her. I stopped and pulled back for a second when she shifted her body and ended up further underneath me. She just smiled up at me, "I think I've changed my mind about watching a movie. This seems like more fun. "

"Again with the brilliant suggestions," I said while leaning down to kiss her neck causing her to moan and squirm a little under me." God that felt just as amazing as when she did it at the movie theatre the other night.

This was so new to me though. I had never wanted anyone as much as I did her, but I still wanted to take it slow. I stopped kissing her and began to stroke the hair away from her face. It may not have been the best timing for this question but it was better to ask it now rather than when it was too late, "Did you ever make the appointment to have that IUD put in?"

Her cheeks turned pink in response to my question, "Sue is taking me on Wednesday. I still…I think I would…I don't think I could have sex in either of our parent's homes. "

"I know. It would be like betraying their trust or something. I think they expect that we are fooling around a little…or a lot…"

"I know. But fooling around a little isn't the same as having sex."

"No, it's definitely not" I leaned down and kissed her again. And again. And a third time for good measure. She wrapped her arms around my back and attempted to pull me closer to her. We laid there kissing for a few minutes until we were both out of breath. I loved the little moans that were coming from Bella. They only made me want her more than I already did.

We were still lying with our foreheads pressed together and attempting to catch our breath; I had my eyes closed and was concentrating on the sound of Bella's breathing when she almost gave me a heart attack with the next thing that came out of her mouth, "I want you to touch me Edward."

My eyes shot open and I pulled back enough to ensure that I was looking her directly in the eye, "are…are you sure?"

"I'm very sure. I'm ready to go a little further." I nodded and reached down to her stomach. I was about to reach up under her shirt when Bella moved out from under me and sat up. I briefly thought that she had changed her mind until she quickly pulled her shirt off. Holy crap! She was not wearing a bra. Holy crap! Here naked breasts were right there in front of me. I immediately glad that we were not going to take this to actual intercourse tonight because, at this point, there was no way that I would last long enough to get to that point.

I reached out tentatively and lightly ran my hand over her breasts causing us both to moan at the feeling. I leaned down and was kissing down her neck. My destination was her breasts. I really just wanted her to feel amazing and never regret trusting me with her body. It meant everything that she did trust me not to hurt her. I knew that she had no doubt that she was safe with me. I had just reached my destination when all of a sudden I felt her hand slip under the waist band of my basketball shorts and underwear and caress me. Holy crap. I had no words for how amazing that felt.

A/N:

Bella is getting bolder! LOL! These scenes are so hard to write.

I mentioned this on twitter last night, but for those of you that don't follow me on twitter, I had some good news yesterday. My son got a placement in one of the neighboring school districts that we applied to! His education is saved! My mother has been assigned the job of telling my niece that he is going to her school with her. LOL! She says she do it while taking her on a shopping spree at the mall! The only stress we have left now is his audition on the 17th. He is trying to move up to the next orchestra up. EEP!

See you on Friday. It will probably be late…like almost Saturday late.


	89. Chapter 89

LL Chapter 89

Will you consider…

It was two hours later that we decided that I had to take Bella home soon, not that either of us really wanted her to go. That was probably why neither of us had made one move to get up and put the few pieces of clothes that we had taken off back on. Personally, I was happy to just lie here and stare at her naked boobs for a while longer. I was really starting to turn into Emmett now.

"I was scared."

"Of me?"

"No. I thought I should be though."

"You thought you should be afraid of me? I don't understand."

She laid there for a moment, considering her words before speaking. I knew that she was trying to be honest with me without hurting my feelings. "I knew that you would never hurt me. At least, I knew that you would never hurt me physically. Dad would never have pushed me to go out with you if he thought it was possible." I knew what she saying without having to come out and saying it. It was very possible for one of us to hurt the other emotionally. We both knew that that was something that would never be done intentionally. "But it just seems like everything in our relationship started moving so fast. I never thought that, after what happened in Phoenix, I should never even _want_ to be with anyone. But I wanted to be with you and the idea of that scared me. Then, like I said, everything moved so fast. All of a sudden we were dating then going away to school together and then we decided to live together. It was so overwhelming."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to think that I didn't love you or want you or want to live with you because I did…I do. I've spent so much time talking to my therapist about this. I guess what I am trying to say, and this is what my therapist keeps telling me, is that I have been afraid of what ifs and scenarios since I woke up that day in the hospital I've felt like I've been running scared. But you've made me want to face those fears head on."

"I am so proud of how strong you are and the way you do face such real fears head on. Don't think I don't notice the way that something will make you freeze for just a second before you find your strength and push past it and succeed."

"You noticed that?"

"Of course I did because I am so afraid that I will push you too far too fast and accidentally hurt you."

"You're not pushing too far, Edward, you have been so amazing and patient with me that I wonder if you really realize how much I appreciate how amazing you are with me and with my daughter. I love you so much."

"I love you too and I love Tanya. Are you still scared about moving in with me?" 

"No. That was actually the point that I was trying to get to here. Every day I find myself getting more and more excited about it every day. "Bella jumped up so that she was sitting on her knees. "I keep thinking about silly things that we will be doing together."

"What kind of silly things?" I smiled up at her.

"You know. Just silly everyday things. A few things are a bit weird."

"Like what? Come on you have me curious now."

"Well, the other night it hit me that we would be doing our laundry together. Like, we would be mixing our dirty underwear together in the same basket."

"That is a little weird to think about."

"I know!" She lied down again and snuggled into my side, "the rest isn't so weird. It's just stuff like cooking together every day, going to bed together every night…"

"Don't forget waking up together every morning. I am looking forward to not having to take you home or worry about your dad and his gun catching us while we're kissing on the porch." 

"Or the couch."

"Or your bedroom."

"Yeah, like we could have even been able to kiss with his little spies walking past and checking on us every two minutes."

"Bella, there is nothing little about those guys."

"I guess not. I guess I just don't pay them much attention when they are over to watch games."

She sighed and turned to look at the clock. I knew that I really needed to take her home now. I did not want Charlie to get mad at us. Besides, I didn't want my parents coming home and finding us half naked in my bedroom.

The drive home to take Bella home was filled with a peaceful silence. Well, it was somewhat peaceful. I had something that I needed to ask her. Alice got mad at me when she found out that I hadn't even discussed this with Bella yet. She said that things like this should never be assumed, they need a lot of time and planning to work out the details. I thought she was getting a little nuts about it. Not that I would ever say that to her and risk being knocked unconscious by one of her cast iron pans.

I was happy to see that Charlie's car was not in the driveway when I pulled into their driveway. I needed to talk to Bella before she went inside and I was already nervous about asking her this. I don't know why though. It just wasn't as important to guys and it was to girls. I knew that Alice and Rose would be all over Bella, dragging her out to salons and spas and making sure that what she was wearing was amazing and sexy. I really couldn't care less about all of that. Bella was already beautiful when she was more natural in nothing but her lounge clothes with her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. She didn't need to get her hair and nails done or wear a special outfit to make me think that she was anything less than gorgeous. She just was.

I walked her up to the front door and stopped her on the porch before she could go in, "There's…uh…one more thing I want to talk to you about before you go in."

She turned around and wrapped her arms around my waist, "What is it?"

"It's more that I have something to ask you. If you don't want to do it you don't have to. I'll understand. I really will. I mean I want you to say yes, but you won't hurt my feelings too much if you say no."

"Edward, just ask me already." She had a smirk on her face that told me that she knew what I was getting at.

"Will you go to the prom with me?"

Bella just started laughing, throwing her head back for a second before collecting herself. She leaned up and kissed me lightly on the lips, "Of course I will." I pulled her closer and gave her another quick kiss before letting her go inside and turning to leave myself.

A/N:

Happy Good Friday (If you celebrate Holy Week)! Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Or Happy just happy that I am alive today day!

Ok. I have signed up to do two compilations. Yes, I am insane. The first is for autism and I will be donating an outtake of this story in Bella's Pov that will include bigger scenes from this story. Like the ball, the movie theatre scene etc and I'm throwing in a scene from Bella's past to show the way she was before the attack. If you have a request let me know. The other compilation is for No Kid Hungry. My Mother works in a school kitchen and she is appalled at the number of kids that get apples and slip them into their pockets saying they are saving it for later. Which means that that apple is their dinner. And sometimes they have to share that one apple with siblings. It breaks my heart that there are some kids who will not get anything to eat between lunch on Friday and breakfast on Monday. If you can donate to this one please do. I am writing a one-shot that is not a part of my other fics for that one. Thank you for reading and I will see you on Tuesday.


	90. Chapter 90

A/N:

I am putting this note at the beginning instead of the end to apologize for missing an update without warning. As those of you that follow me on Twitter know, Easter morning my brother had a stroke. It was minor-ish in that he has no paralysis and they believe that he will be able to resume his life, but his gait is now off as he has some issues with his left side. He was released from the hospital Tuesday night so, as you can imagine, I was definitely not able to write.

LL Chapter 90

A little bit of quality time

The next morning I slept in, it was almost noon by the time I woke up and fell out of bed. I grabbed my phone and trudged down the stairs. After a short search, I found Mom in Dad's office paying bills. It was no surprise to me that Dad had already left for his office. I collapsed on the couch in the room and started going through my text messages. I had only read a couple of them when Alice wandered in the room and curled up in the chair and started going through her messages as well.

Mom finally closed her bill folder and looked up at us, "Any big plans for today?"

"Bella sent me a message that she is spending quality time with Charlie today," I answered with a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Alice asked me.

"They are going fishing." I could not, for the life of me, picture Bella sitting on a boat with a fishing pole.

"That would actually be very good for her. Fishing can be quite relaxing."

"What about you Alice? Any plans?"

"Nope. I was going to call Jasper and see if he wanted to hang out today. Did you have something in mind, Mom?"

"It has been years since the three of us took in the art museum in Sequim. How about letting you old mother have some quality time with her babies? Well do lunch and then the museum."

"Can we go to The Three Crabs?" I asked getting excited. The Three Crabs was this amazingly spectacular seafood restaurant on the beach in Sequim. Mom would always take us to lunch there as a treat whenever she'd drag us to the art museum with her. It was the first time that I ever had crab and I fell in love with it right away. Right then I decided that when Tanya was old enough, she and I were going to have to do something similar, just the two of us.

"Oh Yeah! I haven't been there in forever."

"Go get dressed and let's get out of here." Alice and I jumped up and ran out of the room. We were laughing as we were pushing and shoving each other trying to get ahead of the other as we went.

"Behave you two! We'll never make it to lunch if we have to stop by the Emergency Room first!" Mom laughed as she heard literally hit the stairs. A half hour later we were ready to go and were climbing into Mom's car.

Now, if there is one thing that my sister and I will never agree on its music. She and I have vastly different ideas as to what constitutes good music. Even Jasper has a hard time tolerating her choices. Of course, all he ever wants to listen to is country music. But still, country is better than what Alice calls classic Brittany Spears or 1980's Madonna. Some of that stuff makes me shudder and twitch. Now, Mom and I like the same music so I was usually fine with whatever she turned on. Today it was a playlist consisting of Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath. Mom was cool that way.

We all avoid the topic that I new was weighing on all of our minds; this was going to be the last time the three of us would do this. Time was going by so quickly. There was only ten weeks left until Bella and I left for California. It was so weird to think about. Alice and I had never been apart and we had always been close. She had always been my very best friend and the person that knew me the best. Now we were going to live on two different continents for at least the next couple of years. I was going to miss my sister terribly and it hurt to think of being separated. I knew that she was feeling the same way. At least I was going to have friends with me when I moved. Alice was going to be all alone in France.

Mom was just pulling into the parking lot of the restaurant when I heard my phone alert me that I had a new text message. I laughed when I opened it to find that Bella had sent me a picture of Charlie holding Tanya and casting a line into the water. Charlie looked so happy to be spending the day with two of them. A few seconds later another text came through. This time there was a small video attached to it of Tanya playing on her blanket. She was reaching into the air attempting grab something that I couldn't see. Whatever it was, it was making her laugh like crazy. I could hear Charlie and Bella laughing from somewhere off camera.

I showed the picture and the video off to Mom and Alice as we were walking from the car into the restaurant. I sent off a quick message to Bella to let her know that I was going to be unreachable for awhile. Mom was adamant that our phones were turned off when we were enjoying a family meal. Dad was the only one that was allowed to keep his phone on in case there was an emergency with one of his patients. But he knew better than to answer it if it wasn't patient related. It was one of Mom's biggest pet peeves to see people sitting at a table together and instead of talking to each other they were talking to people on the phone or texting.

Lunch was fabulous and made me decide that I was definitely going to have to bring Bella here before we left for California; I knew that she would love this place. But not for prom. For prom, I was going to take her somewhere special. I already had a lot of plans formulating in my head for prom. And that reminded me that I had yet to tell my mother and sister about prom.

"You guys should invite Bella and Sue along on that shopping trip to Seattle you have planned for next weekend to look for prom dresses." That comment got them excited and set them off. It made me smile to listen to them planning their weekend getaway. Mom said she'd call Sue that night to make plans for them to join in the trip.

The rest of the afternoon was spent peacefully wandering through the art museum and discussing the art on display. I was actually sorry to see our afternoon come to an end when it was time to go home. As we walked through the parking lot on our way back to the car, Alice laid her head on my shoulder and sighed. I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to me because I knew exactly what she was thinking. These were officially the last days of our childhood and we really needed to make them special.

A/N:

It's me again. I have mapped out the rest of this story and there will be 100 chapters total. Then I am going to take a break of a week or two to concentrate on two outtakes that I signed up to write for two different fundraisers. I hope to post the next chapter on Tuesday, I don't know when though. My son has his audition for the youth orchestra that night. Thank you for reading and reviews. You make my days brighter.


	91. Chapter 91

LL Chapter 91

cheater

I really hated that spring break was over and we had to go back to school. I was a bit worried about having to see Angela again. There was no way that I was going to trust her not to hurt Bella again. Luckily Bella agreed that Angela was to be avoided. I suggested that she just ignore her at all costs. It wasn't like any of our teachers were going to introduce any big group projects now. But Bella refused to be rude. That wasn't her. We all warned her to be careful, Angela had gotten physical with our parents around and none of us doubted that being in school would deter her if she wanted to hurt Bella.

We were right to worry. Angela had not given up on hurting Bella she had just come up with a new plan. She was attempting to goad Bella into losing her temper and starting a fight. Every time we turned around Angela was popping up calling Bella a bitch or a whore or something along those lines. Bella was getting angry with her but was not about to give her what she wanted. From what Rose said, Angela thought it was Bella's fault that she got in trouble. Bella just kept telling us that she was desperate and trying to get attention and the only way to stop her was to not give her what she wanted. At least I finally got Bella to agree to act as if Angela didn't exist.

Wednesday I arrived at Bella's house, after returning from my final time volunteering at the NICU, to find her on the phone, "It's not like I didn't deal with this before it both my last school and through the trial but this is ridiculous. I really need it to stop before I lose it and hurt her." There was a pause while I suppose whoever she was talking to was responding.

"I don't know what else we could do about it either; I just wish that it hadn't come to this. But I am glad that you agree that something needs to be done."

I sat down on the couch and said hi to Charlie who was sulking and pretending to watch a game on TV. He was really listening to Bella's conversation and from the way that his hand kept twitching, he really wanted to grab the phone from her and talk to whoever it was himself. The second Tanya heard my voice she turned her head in my direction and smiled briefly before crawling over to me. When she got to me she sat back and lifted her arms for me to pick her up.

"Thank you, Mrs. Webber. I knew that if I appealed to you, you'd understand and help me put a stop to it." Then she hung up the phone came to sit next to me on the couch. "Knock it off Dad. I had to handle it myself. Your way is ridiculous and unnecessary."

"It was not."

"She's a harpy, but I still she's done nothing to warrant being arrested."

"Actually," I interrupted their conversation, "You could make the case that she is stalking you."

"See! Edward agrees with me."

"Honestly. When has she popped up somewhere she shouldn't have been? I've only seen her at school."

"She may have reason to be at the school but not following you around school."

"I just want to scare her a little. I won't actually book her."

Bella groaned and threw her head back, "Well, you're in luck because Mrs. Webber likes your idea. If Angela keeps this up she wants me to call you and have you throw her into a cell for a couple of hours." That made Charlie happy for the rest of the night.

After Charlie went upstairs I turned to Bella, "You're not going to do it are you?"

"I don't know. I'm done putting up with it. The last straw was that she brought Tanya into it. I won't stand for that." Angela's mother must have said something to her because Angela didn't approach Bella for the rest of the week. She merely sat back and glared at all of us.

Now that it was the weekend I was busy focusing on more important things like planning prom night for Bella and me. It was that I did not know what I wanted to do for Bella for prom. It was that I just need to narrow down our choices and make a decision. You would think that our options would be limited living in a small town like Forks but there are a lot more option than I even realized. Emmett, Jasper, and I had spent the majority of our morning discussing whether or not to do a group dinner or for each couple to go off on their own and meet up at the dance. After a long discussion we decided on doing dinner separately since we each had a different idea of what kind of food we wanted and none of us was really willing to change or compromise on that decision.

The girls were up in Seattle with their mothers this weekend looking for their dresses. Every time I closed my eyes I could still see Bella coming down the stairs in her evening gown when we went to the fundraiser ball last fall. I couldn't wait to see what kind of dress she would pick out for prom. I would have to convince Alice to at least tell me what color dress she picked out so that I could match flowers for her.

A fussing through the baby monitor alerted me that Tanya had woken up from her nap. Charlie had insisted on keeping Tanya home while the girls went to Seattle to spend time with his granddaughter, but unfortunately one of his deputies accidentally shot himself in the foot while cleaning his gun so, as the Chief, Charlie had to go cover the shift. I didn't mind keeping Tanya overnight.

We had just been waiting for her to wake up from her nap so that Emmett, Jasper, and I could head out to Port Angeles to get our tuxes ordered. As soon as I had her changed and fed we took off for the hour long drive. I considered putting Emmett in the back with her since he was a big kid himself but he was too big of a kid and didn't fit in the back comfortably.

Strangely enough, Tanya was a perfect little angel while we took turns getting measured by the guy at the tux place. She was so patient and content. Emmett on the other hand started whining and complaining after he was done and was getting on everyone's nerves. Jasper swears that even Tanya rolled her eyes at Emmett's behavior at one point. His biggest complaint was that he was getting hungry. I would have told him that he should have eaten before we left home but I knew that he did.

By the time that we were all measured and ready to leave I was getting hungry myself so we ran to the diner that I used to visit before I'd start my volunteer shifts at the NICU. I hadn't been to the diner for a long time and seeing as I was no longer volunteering as of last Wednesday; it was going to be a long time before I had an opportunity to eat here again.

The two sisters that ran the place were excited to see me again. It took them about a half a second to steal Tanya out of my arms. They insisted on bringing me my usual order of a burger, fries, and chocolate malt. I decided that it was better to accept the food and not be rude. I knew that Bella would understand. Emmett had to open his mouth and say that Bella was probably cheating on the diet this weekend as well so I shouldn't feel guilty. If he meant to make me feel better he failed. Now I was worried about Bella ending up in the hospital again.

A/N:

Happy Tuesday!

A little note about Angela. I don't want anyone to worry here; there will be no boiled bunnies or prom attacks involving pig's blood. She is just angry and irrational. It was one thing when Edward didn't show her any interest when he wasn't interested in anyone. But she had herself convinced that one day he would choose her because, in her mind, they are perfect for each other. But Edward fell in love with Bella. Plus, Rose and Alice, who were Angela's friends first, are taking Bella's side in this. She has some major resentment built up but it doesn't change the facts that she is being a bully. Angela's parents are dumbfounded because they never expected to see this behavior come from their daughter.

We've actually had a couple of police officer's shoot themselves in the foot, by accident, over the last couple of years. I swear our police force trains by watching the Police Academy movies and Andy Griffith reruns.

See you Friday!


	92. Chapter 92

LL Chapter 92

The Talk

Dad got called into the hospital to take care of a man that had a heart attack which left me all alone with Tanya. I was nervous putting her in the guest room. I know I had the baby monitor but I was worried that something would go wrong and I wouldn't hear her. So I moved the portable crib into my room where I could keep an eye on her. I waited until after I had her fed, bathed, and fast asleep to take a quick shower. I flopped down on my bed and turned on my TV, keeping the volume low so I wouldn't wake the baby. I eventually fell asleep around two in the morning. I had a fitful night and kept waking up.

Of course Tanya did not care that I had not slept much she woke me up at seven wanting her breakfast. I lifted her out of her crib and took her to the kitchen. I put her in her high chair while I made her some scrambled eggs. After she finished her eggs I gave her a treat of a little bowl of vanilla custard.

After we were both dressed I spread her blanket out and then I got down on the floor and played with her. We played until she got fussy from wanting her lunch and then we returned to her blanket after we were done eating. I spent most of the afternoon chasing pretending to chase her around the living room as she crawled around. Eventually she tired out and I took her up to my room to rest. I turned a cartoon and I handed her her favorite stuffed dog and laid down next to her. I didn't mean to fall asleep but I must have because the next thing I knew I was being woken up by giggling a couple of hours later. I open my eyes to see Bella standing over me with an amused look on her face. "Hey you," I said, "What are you doing here?"

"You have my baby!"

"I mean I didn't expect you guys to be here until around dinnertime."

"We got all our shopping done yesterday so we got an early start back. Did you two have fun?"

"We did. But we missed you."

"I missed the two of you so much! I think I drove Alice crazy last night in the hotel room."

I went to sit up and noticed that Tanya was not on the bed with me anymore, "Shit! Where is she?" I jumped up and started to panic.

"She's downstairs with your dad. Edward, you didn't go to sleep with her on the bed did you?"

"I didn't intend to."

She started rubbing her temples with her fingers, "Edward you can't do that. She could have fallen off the bed and gotten seriously hurt."

"I'm sorry." I said hanging my head. Crap. I didn't mean to put Tanya in danger.

"Edward, look at me. Edward!" I took a deep breath before lifting my head. "I am going to tell you what Dad told me after he yelled at me for leaving her unattended on the changing table; parents make mistakes, kids get hurt, you have to learn from the mistakes you make and learn that every kid, no matter how close and how careful you are will get hurt. He said the objective is for the parent to cry less than the kid is. I also happened to be sobbing from him yelling at me." She laid down next to me and curled into my side. "I wish I could stay here longer but I really need to get home. I have to get some laundry done before school tomorrow."

I grabbed her and started kissing her, "you have a few minutes to spare me thought, right?" I kissed down her neck causing her to moan a little, "I haven't been able to kiss you all weekend!"

"I might be able to spare five minutes for you," I grabbed her and pulled her closer to me, "Or maybe ten." I held her and we kissed for a few minutes before Bella pulled away.

"Did you know that your parents are going to Seattle on prom weekend?"

"They haven't said anything to me yet."

"I was standing there when your mom talked to the desk clerk about their reservation. I was just wondering if you knew that your parents were going to be gone all night."

"Yeah, you know how we said that we'd be uncomfortable having sex in our parents homes?"

"Yeah. I remember that conversation."

"I was wondering if you changed your mind and you were wanted to…." She swallowed and focused her eyes on the bed, "for the first time on prom night."

"I….uh…no…I hadn't….I didn't even know."

"I don't want to." She blurted out. Did she just say that she didn't want to have sex with me? Did she mean like at all? EVER? "I've thought about it and I want to wait."

I let out the breath that I didn't even realize that I was holding, "Whenever you are ready, Bella. I told you that."

"I want to try our first night in our home together. We'll be completely alone because Tanya will be with my parents and our roommates won't be there. It will be just you and me. Are you ok with that?"

"I am absolutely fine with that. That's actually a brilliant idea." I kissed her again and then she said she really did need to get home so I walked her downstairs.

"Do you need a ride home?" I asked as we reached the bottom of the stairs.

"No. We stopped by my house and picked up my car."

As soon as they were gone my dad started in on me about being careful with Tanya and the fact that I put her in real danger of getting hurt this afternoon. I told him that Bella already yelled at me about it. I sat there as he went on a while longer about not only the risk of her falling but putting things in her mouth and choking. He kept it up until Mom and Alice came downstairs.

"Your girlfriend goes crazy when she is separated from her kid for more than a couple of hours. I'm telling you like totally nuts."

"She told me she was annoying you all night."

"Annoyed me? That is a complete understatement. First she was up until way past two and then she tossed and turned the rest of the night."

"I'm still like that when you guys aren't here. Your poor father is probably going to have to slip sleeping pills in my dinner for the first couple of months after you move out in June."

"Don't think that I don't already have some stockpiled, dear." Dad laughed. "I might have to give some to Sue for Charlie as well. Now, that man is going to go completely neurotic when Bella and Tanya are gone. Be prepared for very frequent phone calls from grandpa!" I already expected that. Bella and I were going to set up a Skype schedule with everyone so that Tanya can see everyone regularly and they could see her. Besides, I knew that Bella was really going to miss her Dad.

A/N:

Happy Friday! Is it Friday where you are? It's about an hour until midnight here but I am posting anyway!

I forgot to mention a couple of chapters back that The Three Crabs restaurant is real. It is an award winning restaurant in Sequim that had been around for close to 50 years! After looking at their menu, I really want to go!

Just a couple of reminders, first, there are only 7 more chapters of this and then I am taking a couple of weeks before I start the (as yet) unnamed sequel. Maybe Saved by the Bell: the college years…wait that's been used. I need to think about that.

Second! Don't forget that the deadline for the Fandom fights autism is coming up. I am writing an Outtake that is Bella's POV of a few moments from this story and (SPOILER) one scene where we get to see Bella before she was attacked.

See you on Tuesday!


	93. Chapter 93

LL Chapter 93

Prom

Alice is the best sister ever. She went out shopping and bought me a tie that she said would match Bella's dress perfectly. I wanted tonight to be just as amazing as the fundraiser was, well, with the exception of the sick baby keeping us up all night. She had just handed me the bag about five minutes ago before she went to get ready to go.

. She had been gone most of the day with Rose and Bella getting their hair and nails done in Port Angeles. It seemed like they were always going to get their nails done for some occasion. I knew that Bella like to get pampered like that once in a while. She said that there was something very calming about letting someone play with her hair and nails.

I never felt that way whenever I'd go get a haircut. I don't know, maybe they do something different at these salons they go to that my barber shop doesn't. At any rate, girls had a lot more to do to get ready for a date like this than guys do. I went and got my hair cut earlier this week so all I had to do was shower, shave, and get dressed. Dad had been good enough to pick up the tuxes for Emmett, Jasper, and I yesterday while he was up there seeing a patient. That was one less thing for me to worry about and one less trip to Port Angeles today.

All I could get out of Mom and Alice since their shopping trip was that Bella picked out this dress herself. Mom said that Bella fell in love with the dress the moment she spotted it on the rack. Alice told me that the dress looked so amazing on her; it was as if it had been made just for her.

At a few minutes before five I left to go pick up Bella. Leah was already gone by the time that I got there. She and Jessica were going to see a movie since Jess didn't want to go to prom. She said it had to do with temptation to drink or do something else stupid and she was committed to staying clean. It also shocked me that Leah and Jessica were becoming such good friends since Leah was responsible for her Dad getting caught with Lauren, who no one had heard from since she ran away from the rehab facility she was in. I don't think that anyone was looking too hard for her either.

I noticed that the new baby gate that normally covered the bottom of the stairs was now leaning against the wall. Charlie and Bella had gone out to buy one for the bottom of the stairs and one for the top. Charlie had also had carpeting installed on the wood steps to prevent slipping. Walking into the living room I found Seth on the floor playing with Tanya. She was throwing a foam ball at him and laughing. It was her newest thing. Whatever she could get her hands on she'd throw. She'd also recently started to attempt to stand up. She'd try to pull herself up using the couch. So far she'd only been able to get about half way up before her legs would give out and she'd fall back on her butt. Considering that standing was the next step to her being able to walk and then run she could hold that little milestone off for awhile longer.

I was standing there talking to Charlie and Sue when I heard Bella coming down the stairs. Mom and Alice were right. That dress was made for her. She looked incredible. Alice did a great job matching my tie to the dress. The part of the dress that was attempting to cover her chest was deep red and all sparkly while the bottom was black. The best part was that the dress was tied behind her neck and was open on the back and sides so that I could actually touch her bare skin all night. I walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before I slipped the corsage on her wrist.

Sue took a ton of pictures of Bella and I. She made us pose in front of the fireplace, in front of a tree in the front yard, and on the porch. After fifteen minutes of picture taking I mentioned that we needed to get going so that we would make it in time for our reservations. I helped Bella into the car as Charlie watched us from the porch. He didn't turn to go back inside while the house was still in view.

I surprised Bella by making reservations at Mom's favorite French restaurant for tonight. I knew that Bella had had an appointment with Dad the other day and after he got home I cornered him in his office to make sure that it was alright. He said it was, he said this was an occasion to loosen up on the diet restrictions. As a doctor, he knew all too well that being too strict to a diet and never allowing yourself an occasional treat could lead a person to resent the diet enough to go off it permanently.

I smiled and she blushed at the attention that she was getting in that dress. Heads kept turning to watch as we walked into the restaurant. During our dinner, where I had requested that we get a quiet table in the corner to make it as romantic as possible, she coerced me into admitting that Alice bought my tie and Mom had ordered her corsage. I swear my girl's kisses were lethal. She could get me to admit to anything with just one kiss. I held her hand on the table until our food arrived. We spent the rest of our meal eating and joking and sharing our food with each other.

We saw Emmett and Jasper's cars when we pulled into the parking lot of the only hall in Forks. I'd been in the hall many times in my life but when I walked in tonight I actually did a double take and nearly walked back outside to make sure that I was at the right place. The theme was Fire and Ice and they had hundreds of icicles hanging from the ceiling throughout the hall and fake fire along the perimeter of the room. The table and chair were even decorated in a soft blue. Bella and I were in line waiting to get our picture take under an arch that was decorated to resemble the room with icicles on the arch and flames behind us.

Once we got through the short line, we quickly found our friends and took over a table. We danced for a little bit before I went to get Bella and me something to drink. While I was gone Emmett stole her away from me and had her out on the dance floor. We spent the rest of the night alternating between dancing with each other and resting and occasionally switching partners. I even danced with my sister twice. Things started settling down after Jasper and Alice were crowned Prom King and Queen. I had been surprised that Rose and Emmett hadn't made the list until he told me that Rose threatened bodily harm to anyone who put her name down for it. I should have known, she really hated it when anyone judged her by her looks.

By the time we had to think about going home I didn't want to have to say good night. It was really too bad that nothing was open in this town at two in the morning Some where headed to the beach to continue partying but those kids were just looking for a place to get drunk I considered asking Bella to take a walk with me but she looked tired and I didn't want her to overdo it so I reluctantly drove her home.

I wasn't surprised to find that her house was dark when we got there. I knew that Charlie was planning on putting on his Chief's hat at midnight and help corral the prom goers as they made their way home. That was another reason that I didn't suggest we go to the beach party. There was no way that I wanted her father to have to arrest either of us for minor in possession tonight.

We did sit on the porch swing and kiss until three and I decided that I had better get home before I fell asleep on her porch. With one last, long and lingering kiss we said goodnight.

A/N:

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. On my profile you will find links to the pictures of the girl's prom dresses (even though I didn't describe Alice or Bella's-Edward only has eyes for Bella and wouldn't pay that much attention to his sister!) and how I saw the hall being decorated. My avatar on my profile is Bella's wrist corsage. I've also added the links to the two fundraisers that I am contributing to.


	94. Chapter 94

LL Chapter 94

Firsts

I couldn't believe how fast time seemed to be flying lately. It seemed like just the other day we were dancing at prom and now there were only a couple of weeks left of school. Mom brought Alice and me home some boxes to start packing our stuff but it was really slow going. I was going to stop and concentrate on my final exams that were coming up soon, but at the moment I was looking at a shoe box full of pictures. I didn't even realize that I had taken so many of Bella and Tanya. I picked up one of Tanya that had been taken right after I met them and compared it to the one on my phone that I had just taken yesterday. She had grown so much! Of course she was now nine months old and really keeping us on our toes.

She was able to pull herself up to the furniture now and very close to being able to take steps around them. She keeps trying to raise her foot but every time that she tried she'd lose her balance and fall on her butt. It was kind of cute to watch because that look of frustration she got on her face was identical to the one that Bella would often sport. Mom and Dad had bought a baby gate to keep on our stairs for the times that she was here to help keep her safe from falling down the stairs now that she was mobile. I was really glad that our house in California was one story. That was one less thing that we would have to worry about.

It was amazing all the things she was able to do now. She started holding her own bottle about a month ago. A week after that Bella showed up at my house with sippy cups for her to use instead of bottles. She was also starting to smack at people. I told Bella that I thought it was her way of greeting people since she couldn't speak yet. She didn't think that I was funny at all. But it was true. Every time that someone walked into the room and went to play with her she would smack them.

She was babbling a lot more lately which, according to all the adults who had raised kids of their own, meant that she was getting closer to talking. I didn't think much of it until two weeks ago. It was Sue's day off work and she had Tanya at home with her so Bella and I went straight to her house after school. Tanya and Sue were sitting on the floor play with a toy that made a lot of noise. Tanya turned her head when she heard us come in. Then she did something that stunned us all that she had never done before. She pointed at Bella and said, "Ma".

At first Bella got really excited. She kept asking us if we heard it too. Once we convinced her that we did, indeed, hear Tanya say her first word and that is definitely was 'Ma' she started crying. It was so unexpected that I had no clue why exactly Bella was crying or what to do. I was even more startled when Sue started crying to. When Charlie walked in a minute later he found Sue and Bella hugging and crying, me looking, according to him, confused and appalled, and Tanya happily playing with her toy. He just clapped me on the back, "This is one of those rare times that it is best to ignore a woman's tears and let her calm down on her own. There's really nothing that we can do but let them get it out of their system." I watched him walk into the kitchen and grab a beer and a soda out of the fridge and come back to the living room. He handed me the soda and then walked right over to his easy chair and turned on the game. I looked between him and the girls a few times before turning and silently following him.

Not only was she saying 'ma' to Bella all the time now, she would say 'ba'. She used that word for both her cup and her ball. If you were unfortunate to guess wrong she would throw the offending item at you and start crying. I started holding out both of them and letting her choose which one she wanted. She was still greeting everyone besides Bella with a smack. Dad kept telling us that all we could do was keep saying 'no no' and she would eventually grow out of it. It was hilarious when she said 'no' while she smacked my dad the other day. We laughed for hours at that one.

Last night she said another new word and this one had me wanting to cry. I had gone over to Bella's after school to start preparing for finals. After dinner, Bella and I took Tanya upstairs to get her ready for bed. I was just laying her down in the crib while Bella turned on this musical glowing worm toy when Tanya looked up at me and said, "Da".

I looked up at Bella who was looking at in complete shock. I don't know why it had never occurred to me that this would happen. I should have thought about it though. I guess I was her dad in every way that counted. I loved her, I took care of her, and I would protect her with my own life. Isn't that what defined a mom or dad?

"You aren't upset are you?" She asked me as we were still standing there watching Tanya as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"Honestly? I'm actually thrilled. I never thought about it before, but I like her thinking I'm her dad." I wasn't freaking out or as scared about it as I thought I would be. I now understood why Bella and Sue were crying the day Tanya said 'ma' for the first time. It was like someone you love telling you that they love you for the first time. "Are you….does it bother _you_ that she thinks that I'm her dad."

Bella shook her head no, "I 'm…amazed really. I don't want you to feel pressured or that you have to go with it. I can discourage it…if you want me to that is. My feelings wouldn't be hurt. Honest." The way that she was staring down at floor suggested otherwise.

"Well, Bella, _my_ feelings would be hurt if you did that. That right there ties with the first time you said you loved me as the most amazing thing anyone has every said to me."

Her eyes shot up to mine and she started to smile at me, "I think we probably should have expected it to come at some point though."

"Yeah, we probably should have." I laughed as I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room.

A/N:

Happy Almost Friday! LOL! I have been waiting a long time to write this chapter. Edward is intelligent but can be clueless. It really hadn't dawned on him that he was Tanya's daddy. Well duh, Edward! LOL!

See you on Tuesday.


	95. Chapter 95

LL Chapter 95

For the final time

No one seemed surprised at all that Tanya had called me 'da'. Charlie laughed and shook his head like it was the most obvious thing. Mom cried. But everything these days made her cry. We told our friends about it at lunch that next day and the only response we got was everybody looking to Emmett who took out a notebook and started flipping through the pages, "Ha! Rose won. She came the closest to the actual date."

"The closest to what exactly," I asked warily. Something in the back of my head told me that I was probably better off not knowing but it was too late the question had been asked.

"To when you would finally realize that you were the kid's dad. Your Mom thought it would be the day you two leave her to head to California. Charlie thought it would be her birthday that's coming up."

"You took bets on my baby's feelings?" Bells seethed staring directly at Emmett.

"Uh…well…yeah," Emmett stuttered as he became increasingly uncomfortable under Bella's glare.

"Unbelievable!" She shouted as she stood from the table and took off out of the cafeteria. I stood to go after but Emmett beat me to it telling me it was his fault she was upset and he would go talk to her.

"You know, all of you that placed bets are just as guilty and should be out there beside Emmett begging Bella to forgive you." Every one of them nodded and stood to go find Bella. I waited a couple of minutes before leaving to make sure that Bella was alright.

Luckily our friends managed to get Bella to forgive them enough to still have our study session that we had planned for afterschool. There was only two weeks of high school left for us now. They had given up on teaching us anything new and we spent all our class time reviewing for finals next week.

Bella and I went to pick up Tanya from Sue so that she could go to work taking an extra shift at the hospital. It still bothered Bella a lot that both Sue and her dad were working second jobs to pay her medical bills and to help pay for Bella, Tanya, and Leah's part of the apartment expenses. But she knew that it was futile to argue about it. Dad specifically told her that if she wanted to get a job herself right now, she'd have to give up on going to college. There was only so much stress she would be able to take at this time. Bella was horrified at the thought of not going to college and gave up arguing about it.

We she and I finally made it back to my house Alice and Rose were already setting everything up. We were taking over the living room and the dining room by setting up 'study station'. Each of us would leave whatever notes we had for a specific class in the same spot. Math and Science took a lot of writing so they were at opposite ends of the dining room table. English literature was on the sofa since it was nothing but reading and so on. That way people could move around as they felt necessary and focus more time on the subjects that they felt they were struggling with and yet we were all there to help each other out. My parents were also here to help if they could, but mostly they stayed in the kitchen, out of our way until we called on them.

They did stop us to make us eat dinner every night. Dad said it was important that we take a break every so often. Mom made sure that there was a fresh pitcher of lemonade out as well as a platter of fresh baked cookies for nourishment. On the weekend days we studied from breakfast until we just couldn't stay awake any longer. Mom and Dad insisted that our friends stay the night those nights.

Charlie came and picked up Tanya on Saturday night after his shift at his second job and kept her all day Sunday to give Bella a small break. Tanya had yet to call me 'da' again but the only word that she was regularly saying right now was 'ma' so it didn't bother too much.

We had done this for finals ever since freshman year and it was strange to know that this was the last time that we would be able to do this. I looked up and watched Emmett helping Alice with something American Government related. He may be crass and loud but he was no dumb jock and was going to be just fine going to college alone. I nearly snorted at the thought of studying for my French final. We had indeed been practicing our French around the house to help Alice prepare for her move.

In the middle of preparing for finals, Bella had been called down to the principal's office and informed that she was valedictorian. I came in second place by a slim margin. If it had been anyone else that had beat me I would have thrown a fit, but I knew that Bella was smarter than me. She was also a better person than me all around. Still, I was thrilled for her; even if she wouldn't tell me anything about her speech.

We continued with this routine every night until our last final exam had been taken. That was yesterday. Today was our last day of high school and basically the only reason that we were even here was to get our cap and gown. The rest of the day was spent everyone socializing and most of the girls crying.

The whole day was surreal. I can't explain how strange it felt to be here. Emmett tried to lighten everything up early in the day by hugging every teacher he saw and having his picture taken with them. He promised them that we he went as the first draft pick in four years the pictures would be worth a fortune.

By the end of the day even Emmett, Jasper, and I were tearing up a little. I had lived in this town my whole life and I had dreamed of running since I was old enough to realize the appeal of a big city. Now that there was only one week left of living here, I was scared to leave. We all met up in the parking lot after our last class. We just stood there for a moment staring at the school as if we expected it to disappear or something. Bella touched my hand and I knew that we needed to get going. We had a promise to keep to the photographer and then we were doing movie night at my house.

A/N:

Happy Tuesday! Sniffs. Last day of high school. There is an outtake 3 that is with Sweetpea123 that is my submission for Fandom4autism. It is a collection of scenes from Bella's POV. I will be posting on Thursday instead of Friday as I will be able to finally post Outtake 2, which is also from Bella's POV. Then there will be five more chapters before I take a couple weeks for a break before starting the sequel. Thank you so much for reading.


	96. outtake 2

Living Life Outtake 2

Story and Banner by Branson101

Beta: Sweetpea123

Mature

Warning: there is a non-detailed discussion of rape and some discussion of battery and abortion. Those that are sensitive to those topics should proceed with caution.

LL Outtake 2

Bella's Choice

My eyelids felt like they weighed a hundred pounds. I just could not muster the energy even to attempt to open them. The effort of even considering it hurt my head. In fact, my whole body was aching and felt like I had a semi-truck parked on me.

The muffled whispers I had been hearing for a while were starting to get louder and clearer. I tried to think of where I was or even what had happened, but a shooting pain through my brain made me stop almost instantly. I allowed myself to drift back off to sleep. I was just too tired to try to fight it.

I was hearing those voices again. They are a lot clearer than they used to be and I can make out that one belongs to my dad. I don't understand. What is he doing in Phoenix? I must be really sick. I couldn't remember getting sick or feeling bad, but with as much pain as I am in, I must be dying.

My head is still pounding and these voices around me just won't shut up. All the voices are yelling and they are so angry and they are making my head hurt again. I try to open my mouth so I can tell them to shut up but nothing happens. I have not found the energy to open my eyes, either. I still can't make out much of what they are saying. Everything sounds like I am under water and only a few words actually come in clearly. I am sure that I heard my dad say something about a baby. Maybe Sue is pregnant. That would be cool. I hope that it is not Leah, though. Being a teen mom would be so hard to deal with. As the fighting seems to get worse this pressure in my chest seems to increase and I can't seem to breathe. Then everything seems to go away again and thankfully, I am left in silence once more.

I am hearing Sue's voice now. I am positive that she and Dad are here with me. Then I heard my name. Why are they talking about me? Why do I hurt so badly? Where is Mom's voice? Why can't I hear her, too?

I must have fallen asleep again because now am I more alert and I feel more. . more pain. More thirst. More confusion. I can also feel Dad holding my hand now and hear him begging me to wake up.

He sounds so lost and scared that I want to cry for his pain. I can understand because I felt lost and scared myself. I don't know what happened and why there is so much pain. I feel like I did that time when I was six and he took me out on the boat fishing with him and Harry Clearwater. I lost my balance and fell into the lake. Daddy didn't hesitate a second. He just leapt into the water to save me.

I tried to open my eyes but they felt like they were glued shut. A groan slipped out of my mouth as I tried one more time. As soon as the noise escaped my lips, Dad's hand was gone and I heard him telling someone that I was awake. Of course I was. I know I was asleep for a little bit but it was only a few minutes, right? That has to be why he is so concerned and upset. He came down here to see me and I have been asleep. Why didn't they just shake me and tell me to get up? I am so confused.

It was a major struggle but I finally got my eyes to open. He was the only thing that I could make out clearly, "Daddy." It came out as barely more than a whisper but he heard me and he was immediately back to holding my hand, telling me how happy he was that I was finally awake. Maybe I had actually been asleep for a few hours.

I only had a few seconds to look around the room I was in and realized that I was in a hospital room. I was hooked to so many wires and hoses; it made me nauseous to see the needles poking into my arms. How did I end up in the hospital? Why was I in so much pain? It was all so overwhelming and scary. Suddenly, all these strangers were in front of me asking questions, poking and prodding me. It was becoming too much for me and I just couldn't take it anymore. I could feel my heart start racing as this horrid shrieking noise sounded from a machine next to me.

I saw Dad being ushered out of the room by the nurse while the others stayed and tried to calm me down. They told me if I couldn't calm down on my own they were going to have to give me something to put me to sleep. I didn't want to sleep anymore. I wanted to see my Dad. I rarely got to see him and I wasn't about to miss his entire visit by sleeping, because surely he couldn't have more than a weekend to be here.

Once I got myself under control the doctor started asking me questions again. They were insane questions like what my name was, what day it was, and stuff like that. The question that got me was 'what was the last thing I remember before waking up'. The last thing I could clearly remember was Cassie's voice telling me that everything was going to be ok and help was on the way. Oh no. She was driving me home from school today. Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! We must have gotten into an accident on our way home from school. That is why Dad is here. We are going to be in so much trouble. Dad has always been leery of inexperienced teen drivers. "Cassie! She was driving us home from school. Where is she? Is she ok?"

A doctor and nurse exchanged a wary look and then the doctor put his hand on my head, brushing the hair back out of my eyes. His hand coming at me made me flinch for some reason but he was not fazed by it. It was almost as if he expected that reaction from me. "I need you to calm down and relax for me, Isabella. It's not good for you to get this worked up. I need to go speak to your father." As he left, the nurse continued to check all the machines and typed notes in the computer. I watched the doctor talking to Dad in the hall.

I started getting lost in my head about what how I had ended up in the hospital. I could almost remember being home from school. I could almost remember…Phil….and his friend….and strawberries and liquor on the table…

What happened? What did they do to me? I could only remember being in my room and begging Cassie to come back for me. I was going to climb out my window to avoid them. I could feel the panic rising when I remembered knowing what they planned to do to me. I threw up all over myself before I even realized that it was going to happen. I could feel the panic rising in me as alarms around me started screaming. I couldn't breathe and the room was starting to spin. The doctor came running back in the room, look at the machines briefly, and then injected something in my IV that had me out in seconds. The last thing that went through my mind was an image of Phil laughing while his friend swung at me with an aluminum baseball bat.

When I woke up again a few hours later, Sue and Leah were sitting with me.

"Sleeping Beauty finally wakes up!" Leah teased me with a smile on her face.

"You had us so worried, sweetheart." Sue cooed over me.

"I can't believe you guys are here. Where's Dad? He was here earlier."

"He took Seth downstairs for a soda. He'll be right back." I nodded at Sue's comment. At least I think I did. I was still quite disoriented and groggy from whatever it was the doctor gave me. I closed my eyes again. I don't know whether or not I really drifted off to sleep again but when I opened my eyes Dad was back to hovering by my bed. I tried to move again but the pain made me groan and give up.

"Bells! Are you hurting? Do you need more pain medicine?"

"No more. Enough sleep." I managed to whisper out. My throat was really dry and sore. "Can I have something to drink?"

"I'll get you some water."

"Can I have a soda instead?"

"I'm sorry. Doctor's orders. No caffeine."

"That means I can't have coffee either? Why?"

"The doctor will explain when he gets here in a few minutes." Dad left the room and I closed my eyes again. This time I was awake enough that I didn't doze off. I sulked. There was no way this 'no caffeine' thing was not going to fly with me. I lived on soda. There was no way I was giving it up. Why should I?

Dad returned with not only my water but also the doctor, "What have you told her?"

"Just that she wasn't allowed caffeine. She wanted a soda but I wanted you to be here to help explain everything incase she has another panic attack."

Then a woman wearing a suit walked into the room, "I heard she woke up. I need to hear what she remembers before people tell her what happened. It will be better for the case."

"Ms. Swan-may I call you Isabella or Bella? Your dad says you like to be called Bella."

"Bella's fine."

"I am the district attorney and I need to ask you some questions. With your permission and your father's, I am going to bring in the detectives that have been working on your case. We thought it might be easier if I came in first and warned you that they are two good-sized men. We didn't want to scare you."

I looked at this woman and then let my eyes flicker over to the door before nodding my head.

"Chief?"

"It's fine with me but if any of this starts to upset her, you're out of here."

"Agreed." She picked up her phone and told the detective to come in, "They stayed down at the nurse's station." My first thought when the two detectives walked in was the district attorney wasn't kidding. These were some huge guys.

"We need you to think back for us, Bella, and tell us what you remember on February 5th."

"It was just an ordinary day. Mom took my car to work because hers was in the shop. That happened a lot. Cassie drove me home after our DECA club meeting."

"What happened when you got home?"

It was all coming back to me in such vivid detail and I started sobbing, "Phil was home. I didn't think he'd be home yet. His friend Eric was with him. I tried to get away from them. I swear I did, Daddy!"

"I know, Bells, go on." He did something very unusual for him. He sat next to me on the bed and held me while I cried and continued to recount the story.

"They offered me a drink…something with strawberries in it…there was something really off in the way they were acting and looking at me and I was so terrified. I'm allergic to strawberries so I declined and went for my room. I grabbed a bat out of the closet on my way and I could hear them arguing in the living room."

"Could you make out what they were saying?"

"No. I really didn't try to either. I just wanted to get out of there."

"What did you do when you got to your room?"

"I called Cassie to come back for me and I packed an overnight bag. I was going to sneak out the window."

"Did you get out?"

"No. They broke down my bedroom door. They thought it was funny that I was going to use the bat to defend myself. It didn't take but a second for them to get the bat from me and Eric started beating me with it. The phone dropped out of my hand, it must have landed on the bed near me because the last thing I remember, as everything went black, was Cassie telling me everything was going to be all right. Then Eric brought the bat down and slammed it onto my head. That's all I remember."

"That's fine. You did really well, Bella. That's all we need for now so we'll leave you to rest, but we'll keep in touch." With that, they left the room.

Dad's cell phone went off at that moment and he excused himself to answer Sue's call, leaving me alone with the doctor.

"How bad did they hurt me?"

"Well," he started pulling up a chair, "You have a broken leg, a broken arm, a cracked skull, and several broken ribs. All the cuts and bruises have healed and the broken bones are almost done healing."

There was something he wasn't telling me and I knew what it was. "Did they…"

"Yes. They did." I started sobbing again. Why would they do this to me? "That's not all. You're also six weeks pregnant."

"Six weeks? It's been six weeks since they attacked me?"

"Yes."

"Is that why I can't have caffeine? The baby?"

"That's part of it. You were in really bad shape when you were brought in. We almost lost you several times when your heart stopped on us. Your cardiologist will be in tomorrow to talk to you about your diet restrictions and his plan of care. Ok?"

The doctor left me alone after he dropped that little bomb on me. I had nothing else I could do but lie in bed and just sob. That vague memory of hearing people talking about a baby while I was out came back to me. It had never dawned on me that it was _me_ that was having a baby.

"I am sorry that you have to deal with all of us, Miss Swan, and I am not trying to be insensitive, but a decision will need to be made about the baby soon."

"What do you mean? What decision?"

"You do need to think about whether you are going to continue with this pregnancy or not. Your parents have had some very definite opinions about it…as well as some heated discussions."

"Did they get into a fight in here about it?"

"Did you hear that?"

"I think so." I told him about waking up and the garbled voices I was hearing. He said that it was normal for the trauma I had sustained.

"Do you want me to have a counselor come in to talk to you about your options? We can have your parents stay out while you talk to her."

"There is nothing to talk about. I can't have a…ab...I just can't do that."

"What about adoption?"

"I might consider that option. Can I talk to that counselor about that?"

"Yes, you can. I am going to go now, but if you need me the nurses know how to get me or any of your other doctors here quickly."

I quickly learned just how many doctors I had assigned to me… the doctor from this morning was the neurologist, then I had a cardiologist, and OB, and of course everyone, including my parents, insisted I needed to have a psychiatrist too.

My parents were not making my decision any easier on me. My mother wanted me to end the pregnancy and my father didn't. They got into a fight over that. Then I brought up the possibility of adoption and they got into a fight over that. Mom was not happy with the idea of adoption but was willing to at least discuss it, but Dad was against it. His idea was that he and Sue would raise the baby as their own child, as my sister. The whole discussion was giving me a headache and I had finally had enough of the aggravation, so I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep until they all left.

Mom was so angry that I wanted to have the baby. I just…as horrified I was to find out they got me pregnant I could not convince myself to end it. I tried to see my mom's point of view on this. I understood her position; I just didn't feel the same way about the situation. No matter which one of them was the father, I was still this child's mother and that put me off any other option besides having my baby and raising it myself. After a few more arguments with my Mom she finally agreed to give up fighting me on my decision.

I don't know whether my parents thought I was crazy or not for deciding to keep the baby. Maybe I was. I don't know. I knew it wouldn't be easy or all fun and games. After everyone left for the night and I was finally alone for the first time, I cried. I had never even been on a date and now I was pregnant.

Dad understood my decision and said that he would help me in any way he could. He even asked me to come to Forks and live with him and Sue. I declined. Mom needed me here and I was going to need to be here to see my doctors and for the trial anyway.

I was released from the hospital about two weeks after I woke up. That was about the only point that I had even considered leaving Arizona and going to live with Dad. I never wanted to step foot in _that _house again. Mom told me that she had found a new place for us to live and had had some friends move us a week ago.

I was still unable to get around very easily. I had to spend most of my time resting. I used the quiet time to catch up on the schoolwork that I had missed. Dad and Sue and her kids had to return to Washington but they called daily to talk with me. Leah and I had become really close through our talks on the phone and through emails. She was funny, snarky, and so protective of those she loved. I loved having her for a sister.

I soon found out that the press was going crazy over the court case that was pending. I'd had to talk to the prosecutors a couple of times and once a court date was set things started getting bad.

People started calling the house and threatening to kill my family and me. My identity was supposed to remain a secret because I was a minor but someone had leaked it to the press. They were calling me a lying whore. How could they think that I was making this entire thing up? I didn't get it. Just because they were "famous athletes" and I was a teenage girl from a poor family I must be lying to get money and attention. It only got worse when they let me return to school.

I had had a good number of close friends, but I was never what you would call popular. Mostly I hung out with the other kids from DECA and the Honor Society. But the change when I arrived that first morning was evident. Everyone knew. Everyone was staring at me, even the teachers were looking at me like they didn't believe me. Then the whispering started. People were calling me a liar and a whore. The worst was that none of my friends would talk to me. Not even Cassie. She knew the truth. From what I was told, she heard the whole thing over the phone and got the police to me and now she wouldn't even look at me or acknowledge me when I talked to her. I found out a few days later that she was refusing to testify, and since she was a minor and her parents were against her testifying there was nothing to be done about that.

They were getting the threatening phone calls too and they caved to the threats. It became a daily thing for the staring and taunts to get so bad that I would run from the lunchroom in tears. It only got worse after I started to show. The school offered to let me study from home and use my computer to communicate with my teachers. I refused to give in. I refused to let them get the better of me.

More than once, Dad brought up the idea of me moving to Forks to get away from the stress. I refused to let any of them win. Besides, my mother needed me here. She blamed herself for what they did to me. I couldn't really disagree with her as part of me blamed her too. I tried to tell her that something was not right with Phil, but she wouldn't listen and she wouldn't allow me to go live with Dad when she married Phil. That is neither here nor there anymore. She guilted me and I stayed and Phil proved me right.

It wasn't that the idea of getting out of here didn't have its benefits, but I stayed. Not only did I need to take care of Mom, I was still recovering from my injuries while the pregnancy progressed, and I was still dealing with the lawyers and the upcoming trial.

The trial came up before I knew it. I was five months along and miserable. I was still under dietary restrictions from the heart issues I had and then they discovered that I was suffering gestational diabetes. This meant that the list of foods I was not allowed to have tripled on me and I had to go see the doctor even more often than I already was.

I felt like I was being pulled in so many direction and the stress I was under was making my health suffer more. With the high blood pressure and the diabetes I had a hard time convincing the doctors to allow me to continue to go to school, but I finally gave in to half days. I was allowed to attend in the mornings but had to rest for the remainder of the day.

Mom just kept getting worse and there was nothing I could do for her. I didn't tell anyone how deep into depression she was falling. I didn't want to cause my dad any more stress than I already had. I tried to keep them apart as much as possible when he came down for the trial.

The idea of facing them in court terrified me. The last time I was in the same room with them they…I closed my eyes and willed that train of thought away. I couldn't let myself go there and dwell on it. It was done and over with and with any luck they would be going to prison for a very long time. I had to believe that they would not be able to hurt me anymore.

The trial was stressful and caused my blood pressure to go up to a level that made the doctors nervous. They kept as much of the trial and press coverage from me as much as possible. School was out for the summer so I didn't have to face my classmate and their taunting anymore. They didn't have to worry about me seeing anything on TV because the cable had been shut off a couple of weeks ago. The past-due bills were starting to stack up. Dad and Sue had brought Leah and Seth with them and their job was to keep me relaxed and entertained. The trial lasted for a week and I was the last person to testify for the prosecution. Testifying was horrifying. Everyone had warned me that the defense team was going to get nasty and they did. They tried everything they could to get me to get me to admit that I was lying, but I wouldn't budge from my story. How could I when I was telling what I knew to be the truth?

By the time they excused me from the witness stand I knew that there was something wrong. As soon as I got out into the hall where my Dad was waiting for me I started to go down. The bailiff that escorted me out caught me before I hit the ground and an ambulance was called. My blood pressure was dangerously high and I had to spend the next few days in the hospital. I knew at that point that I was not going to be able to return to school in August; I would be out until the baby was born.

The doctors wanted to wait to release me until the verdict came in. They did not want me at home if the verdict came and they were acquitted. They were afraid that the stress of that would cause to put the baby and me into a life-threatening situation. The jury came back with a verdict on Monday after only a few hours of deliberating. Mom and Sue went to the courthouse and Dad stayed with me. At exactly 11:33 AM, the phone in my room rang. Guilty. On all counts. I cried. I cried for everything they had taken from me. I cried for the pain they caused my family and me. I cried for the fact that twelve strangers believed me when my friends did not. I cried for the relief that they were going to prison for years and would never be able to hurt my baby or me again. The doctors finally agreed to let me go home, but I was put on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy.

Dad's insurance paid for a nurse to come in and sit with me during the day when Mom had to be at work. The nurse was concerned about Mom's ability to take care of me, but I told her that Mom was nothing if not completely attentive to me in the evenings. Truth was I spent a lot of time sleeping, reading, and watching TV.

A couple of weeks later Mom was late coming home from work and she wasn't answering her phone. I was getting worried about her but I really needed to remain calm and get to my weekly doctor appointment. Knowing I had little choice, I grabbed my car keys out of my desk and drove myself to the doctor's office. It may not have been the smartest idea to do so, but I had no cash for a cab and I thought it was better than walking to a bus stop.

The doctor still didn't like my blood sugar or blood pressure readings and decided to do another ultrasound on me while I was there. The tech had barely gotten the machine up, running when she announced the baby was actually cooperating, and she could tell me the sex if I wanted to know. I felt guilty that the first time Mom misses an appointment we were going to know if it was a boy or girl, but I really wanted to know.

A little girl! I was going to have a daughter. I was so excited the staff had to keep telling me to calm down; it wasn't good for my blood pressure. After they were confident that I would be relatively alright to drive myself home they let me go.

When I got home, I heard the TV in Mom's room blaring. I went straight to her room to show her the ultrasound pictures. I figured it didn't matter whose bed I was in as long as I was in bed and resting.

I opened the door to her room and screamed. She was lying on her bed but I could tell that she wasn't breathing and her coloring wasn't right. I ran to her bed and pushed the hair from her face. She was so cold. Then I noticed the empty bottles. One was a pill bottle, the other was vodka. I called 911 but there was nothing they could do. She was gone.

The paramedics were concerned about me after I started having pains in my stomach and insisted that I let them take me in to get checked out. I can't tell if I argued with them about it or not, everything about that night is hazy to me.

Not only was I having contractions at only six months along, but my blood pressure was in an extremely dangerous area. My doctor insisted that I let him call my dad and inform him about everything that happened. The only thing he wanted me to do was rest and try to remain calm to bring down my blood pressure. An hour after he left my room, my chest started to feel funny.

I turned to the nurse, who was ordered to stay in my room at all times, "Something's wrong." I gasped, "My chest…tight…heavy…"

That was the last thing that I remembered before waking up hours later with my Dad sitting next to me with his head in his hands. I moved my hand to my stomach as an automatic reflex and started to panic when the baby bump was gone.

I tried to sit up but Dad grabbed my shoulders and stopped me, "Calm down and lie still."

"Where's my baby? What happened?"

"You had a heart attack. She's in the NICU. Sue is with her."

I sighed in relief for a moment. "Is she going to be alright?"

"We don't know yet. She's really small and she is on a ventilator to help her breathe. But she is so beautiful. Did you know it was a girl?"

"I found out at my appointment. I was going to call you and tell you. When can I go to her?"

"Not for awhile, I'm afraid. You can't get out of that bed and she can't be brought here. I have pictures on my phone for you to see." He pulled his phone out and pulled up a picture of my daughter. She _was _beautiful and had this thick mop of brown hair like Dad's and mine, but she had Mom's nose and lips. "I already emailed it to the guys at the station."

Over the next couple of days Dad arranged for Mom to be buried in a small service. Sue, Dad, and Seth went to the funeral while Leah stayed with me. Later that afternoon they let me go down to the NICU to see my daughter. They made me ride down in a wheel chair but I really didn't care. I got tired just trying to go from my bed to the bathroom. After I was clean and put on a special gown and gloves, I was allowed into the room where she was being held.

The pictures that Dad and Sue had been showing me did not do her justice. MY baby girl was so beautiful. I started to cry as I reached into the incubator and touched her for the first time. She sighed! She actually sighed the second I touched her! I was only allowed to stay there for a half hour before I had to return to my room. It wasn't long enough but I was too tired to argue. I fell asleep before we made it back to my room.

Dad, who was constantly taking off to meet with lawyers regarding Mom's estate, came into my room a couple of days later and sat down next to me. I could tell there was something that he needed to talk to me about.

"Did you know that your mother was drinking a lot?"

"No. But I was stuck in my room. Why?"

"Apparently, she was fired from the school the other day when she pulled a bottle of Vodka out of her desk and started drinking it in front of her students."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, "I had no idea."

"We were cleaning out the house you two were living in and found several boxes of empty liquor bottles in her closet."

"Oh, God. I didn't know."

"She left a note. I don't think you saw it," I shook my head no when he looked at me, "She said that she blamed herself for everything because she brought him into your life. She said she failed you as a parent and protector and felt like she deserved to die. She said she loved you and hoped that she would be able to watch over you and protect you from heaven. I wish I had been around more and had seen something, anything."

"Dad, I _was _there and I never noticed. What are you doing with her stuff?"

"Mostly it's going to Goodwill. I need to know if there was anything of hers that you wanted so I can have the guys pack it with your stuff."

"My stuff?"

"Bella, you do realize that you and the baby are going to have to come live with me and Sue?"

"I hadn't actually thought about it but I guess you're right. It just didn't click with me. I don't think there is anything I want."

"Alright, you rest and the guys will have your stuff taken up to Washington in a few days. Seth and Leah are going home too. It's almost time for school to start for them."

I nodded. "Now onto a better subject, we need to know if you have figured out what you to name the baby. We need to know for her birth certificate."

"I'd like to name her after Mom. I want to name her Tanya Marie Swan."

A/N:

Happy…uh…Thursday? It's Thursday somewhere in the world right? Here is a little more insight to who Bella is. This was donated to the Fandom against Juvenile diabetes compilation. As a diabetic myself, I really felt the need to help in any way that I could.


	97. Chapter 96

LL Chapter 96

Graduation day

I was woken way too early in the morning by a lot of noise and commotion coming from downstairs. A few of the some amount of relatives my parents still had left in Chicago had come to see Alice and I graduate today. They were all cousins of my parents. They had arrived last night and luckily were only staying until tomorrow. Not that I wasn't grateful that they cared or anything. I just really did not know these people at all beyond little pieces of information and I'd catch Mom and Dad talking about when they'd receive a rare letter.

I climbed out of bed and showered and dressed before heading downstairs for breakfast. My parents were already sitting around the table having coffee with two other couples while one other couple was seat on the benches of the breakfast bar.

"I put your breakfast in the refrigerator, Edward." I nodded and grabbed out my half of a grapefruit and popped two pieces of whole grain bread in the toaster before starting a pot of herbal tea.

Once I sat down with me breakfast two of the guys there started ridiculing my 'girlie' breakfast. I looked over at my parents to see them glaring at the guy that was insulting my breakfast. I was tempted to tell the guy to go to Hell but didn't want to start a fight or be as rude as him so I just looked him right in the eye, "My girlfriend has a heart condition and follows a strict low fat-low sodium diet. I follow her diet, as do all of our friends, for moral support. Besides, we are going to be moving into a house together in a week so…"

"That's very sweet of you." One of the women commented smacking her husband on the back of the head.

"Yeah. I just don't want her to die."

"Yeah, because then he'll be raising the baby on his own," my sister said with a smirk as she walked into the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and my sister's teasing joke, but she had gotten the reaction that she'd wanted from our guests. They all choked on their coffee and turned to look at me and then my parents.

"Baby?"

"Yes, Tanya. She is nine months old." I replied before I stood and walked out of the room leaving them sitting there in absolute shock while I retreated back to my room to get my suit on for the graduation ceremony. I did not want to go back downstairs so I went to hide in Alice's room while she did her hair in makeup. I was bored out of my mind but I could tell that she was even6 dragging that out longer than necessary to avoid going back downstairs herself. I didn't leave until she needed to get dressed. Mom and Dad had insisted that they get a few pictures of us in our caps and gowns before we left for the ceremony. At least it was one of those rare sunny days that Forks occasionally gets blessed with.

When we arrived at the school Alice and I went to the cafeteria where the graduates were told to check in. Once we were checked in and they made sure that our gowns were on correctly and our caps secured to our heads we were sent off to the gym to wait for the ceremony to start.

Everyone was milling around and talking loudly, but I spotted Bella and Emmett sitting together on the bleachers on the other side of the room. I grabbed Alice's hand and pulled her along with me so we wouldn't get separated. When we got to where they were seated, I sat down next to Bella and kissed her quickly then I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her back against my chest. As I sat there listening to Bella and Emmett continue their conversation I looked around at the small sea of people around us. I grew up with these kids and I knew very few of them. I would also likely not see them again after today.

Rose and Jasper arrived a few minutes later and while Emmett turned his attention to Rose, Bella pulled some note cards out and began silently reviewing to give her big speech. I kept trying to catch glimpses of the cards by giving her kisses but she was onto me. She told me if I didn't stop she would make me go sit on the other side of Emmett. I tried pouting but she just laughed and said that it wasn't going to work with her.

Before I knew it, the principal was attempting to get us in order. I kissed Bella one last time before her and Jessica went to join the other 'S's. As soon as we were lined up and semi quiet, they gave us a few last minute instructions before leading us out the door to the football field where the ceremony was being held.

They had lined us up two by two so that Alice was standing to my left since 'A' came before 'E' in the alphabet. Walking up the aisle between two sections of parents I found my family, Bella's, and the Hales all sitting together. Charlie was holding Tanya and pointed me out to her as I passed them. Behind there were a few of the guys from the reservation that I've seen hanging around Bella's house watching games with their dads and Charlie. They were good guys.

An half an hour later, the principal was finally done droning on about real life and our future. He called Bella up to the stage to give her speech before taking his seat. The only thing that I had caught when attempting to peek at her note cards was that she had titled the speech, "Tumble and Fall".

She walked up to the podium, set her note cards down, and took a deep breath before looking up and everyone seated in front of her and launching into her speech, _"Life is full of obstacles and hardship.. I have had the exceptional opportunity in my life to have a perspective that most high school graduates don't get. As a mother of a baby that just under one year old I have had the pleasure of watching her learn how to navigate her world and work around the obstacles in her path. I've watched her try and fail. But she never gives up. She just tries again and again, she tumbles and fall and gets back up until she achieve her goals. My dad says that she is just stubborn like me…" _The confidence and courage that Bella was showing by standing in front of everyone in town and talking about being a teen mother literally made her glow and made me fall in love with her even more. Alice leaned over and took my hand in her. I could see her wiping tears from her eyes with her other hands,"…_Today we all achieve success by either graduating or being a parent of a graduate. Tomorrow we will all start a new list of goals and learning to navigate a whole new world. Whether you are heading to college or not, you will fail. You will tumble and fall but if we stand back up and try again and try again only then will we achieve our goals and find success and happiness…"_

When she was done every one stood and cheered for her. I could hear Emmett whistle from somewhere behind me. Once we had all settled down and resumed our seats the principal returned to the podium and shook her hand before assisting her back off the stage. He then turned back to the microphone and announced that that had to be the best graduation speech he'd ever heard and the most well received. Then they had us stand and make our way to the stage one row at a time. They had a photographer standing where we exited the stage. That is where I found my sister waiting for me, demanding that the guy take one of us together as well as our separate ones.

A/N:

Happy Monday! I am nearly finished writing out the whole story. I just started chapter 99 tonight. I can't believe that I am at this point. I don't normally ask point blank, but I am so close to 1000 reviews and I would love to get there by the end, if you wouldn't mind helping me. It would be much appreciated.


	98. Chapter 97

LL Chapter 97

Time to Party

As soon as everyone had their diploma, a few final words were spoken and then we were dismissed to go live our lives. I jumped from my seat and went in search of Bella. I scooped her up into my arms the second I got to her and hugged her tightly to me. Emmett came up behind me and nearly tackled the both of us to the ground joining in the hug.

We met up with our parents a few minutes later. We were a little surprised to see on of our relatives holding Tanya. I still couldn't remember any of their names or I would have introduced Bella to them. As Dad got my attention to congratulate me, Mom jumped in and introduced Bella and our friends to our visiting relatives. We only lingered for a few minutes before we headed to our cars for the drive to the Hales. After a short discussion about graduation parties we came up with an alternative solution to have one big party for all of us at the Hale's house.

Bella decided that she and Tanya were going to ride with me in my car. We had to take separate cars to get everyone to the school from our house. Besides, this way if we wanted to leave early, we could. I could see that something was bothering Bella as we pulled out of the school parking lot, "Your speech really was amazing."

"Thank you." She responded quietly.

"So, one week. Are you ready? "What surprised me was that she shook her head no in response. I pulled the car over and turned to face her. "What's wrong?"

"I wish my mom was here today," she whispered. I tended to forget that Sue wasn't her Mom. They just seemed like they'd been one big happy family for years instead of months.

"I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do to change that."

"I know. I just miss her and hate that she is going to miss everything. She is never going to meet her granddaughter or you. Sometimes I am so angry with her for…well…other times I miss her so much it hurts."

I grabbed Bella's hand and held it tight while she stared out the window in silence. We sat there for a few more minutes before she sighed, turned to me, and told me that she was ready to go. I nodded and pulled back onto the road.

We arrived at the Hale's long after everyone else did. Dad gave me a questioning look after seeing Bella and I shook my head at him and continued following Bella to the backyard to find our friends. Her mood greatly improved as the afternoon went on. By the time that our parents brought out the cake and graduation presents you would have never known that she'd been upset or missing her mom. The best gift that I got was from my parents gave me a brand new laptop. My old one was old and didn't have a built in webcam. Alice got the same one that way the two of us could call home via Skype so they could actually see the four of us all the time.

Later that afternoon, after we had returned to our house along with Bella's family, one of my relatives I now knew to be Carmen came to sit down next to me, "You know, when you said you had a baby with your girlfriend, I was kind of hoping she'd had inherited that crazy hair that you got from your Grandma Elizabeth."

My eyes shot up at her and smiled, "I'm not her biological father. I'm just her dad."

"Oh." She looked shocked. I told her the abridged version of Bella's past. I didn't want to get into the whole thing but it was enough. "I remember Eleazar telling me about that case. He never liked that Eric guy when he played for the Cubs. He was never a fan and was happy when he was dropped from the majors. He always said that there was something seriously wrong with him. Eleazar was thrilled that him and that other guy were convicted. We had wondered what happened to the girl. She seems happy." She nodded at Bella who was out in the yard pushing Tanya in the baby swing that Dad had recently put up.

"Yeah. She is."

"Are _you_ happy?"

"I'm very happy."

"You look terrified."

"I'm that too." She laughed at my admission. I liked Carmen. By the end of the day I was glad that she and her husband came. They reminded me a lot of my parents.

"I'm taking it that that girl is the reason that you decided against Chicago for college?" Eleazar asked as he walked behind me later that day. "Carlisle told us for years that it was your first choice."

I looked up at Bella and found her looking at me. When she smiled and waved at me I was out of my chair and headed for her in a flash. I could hear Carmen and Eleazar laughing behind me but I didn't care one bit. I was headed for my girls.

Bella and her family headed home around ten. Tomorrow we would join them for Leah's graduation from her school down on the reservation. Mom made a pot of coffee and the adults were settling down in the kitchen for a game of cards when I made my way upstairs for bed. It had been a long day and I was exhausted.

I tossed and turned for a while, unable to shut down my mind. Finally, I gave up and got out of bed to go downstairs to grab a snack. I was startled to find Alice at my door with a bowl of popcorn and a movie, "I can't sleep and I thought I'd see if you wanted to watch Psycho with me."

"That sounds great as long as you share that popcorn."

We settled down on the bed and started the movie. We were about fifteen minutes into it when I spoke up, "Is it strange to you that we are no longer students of Forks Public Schools?"

"Yeah. It all hit me about an hour ago. I'm leaving the day after you do for Paris and I'm going to miss you so much. The idea of the two of us going off in separate directions feels almost unnatural."

"I know. Jasper said the same thing about him and Rose. They've never been separated either. We'll have to set up time to get on Skype and talk to each other."

"Oh you better believe that we will. I don't want to completely miss my niece growing up. I'll have to send her special treats from Paris boutiques."

"I'm sure that Bella would love that. Are you going to be able to come home for Christmas?"

"I don't know. I'll try but I can't promise anything." I sighed and let it drop. The next week was going to be hard on all of us with picking fights needlessly.

A/N:

Wow! Ask and you shall receive. You guys are freaking amazing. I don't think I tell you that enough. Thank you so much for the amazing response to the last chapter. It seems that you guys liked her speech. I'll tell you, I could literally see her sitting in the living room watching her daughter's attempts to walk while she was trying to write her speech.

You guys are getting this early because I am going out of town for the weekend for Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all my readers that are mothers. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

I started writing my one-shot for No kid hungry (link can be found on my profile page) and if you think this Edward was an ass at the beginning wait until you see this new one. Ha ha ha! I wanted to reach into my computer and junk punch him a couple of times. I can't wait to share it with the world. I'll post a teaser when I get a little further along.


	99. Chapter 98

LL Chapter 98

Throwing my Life away

It dawned on us around Tuesday that we wouldn't be able to everything from our separate bedrooms and be able to get it all into our bedroom in California. We were both going to have to leave a few things behind. Like we didn't need to bring both of our radios, just one would do. Not that we didn't get into a few arguments over who got to take what. One such item was our alarm clocks. We both liked our own and wanted to take them, I finally conceded to hers when she pointed out that her mother had bought it. I wasn't crazy about the fact that it was Jiminy Cricket but it had sentimental value and mine did not.

Furniture, accessories, and bedding were taken care of because we got brand new ones to take with us. It felt so surreal to be sitting in my room with Mom and Bella helping me pack my life in boxes. What we weren't going to be taking with us we were going to store in the attic or I was throwing away. Bella's was doing the same with her stuff, too. We were going to take what we could in my car with us; the rest was going to have be brought by Bella's family when they brought Leah and Tanya down in two weeks. Although a few things had been UPS'd down and the landlords were putting the boxes in the house for us.

We had been alternating working on each others rooms, today we were at Bella's house, "I swear, I have no idea how I accumulated all this stuff. I didn't have all of this when I moved from Phoenix. At least, I don't think I did. I didn't actually do any packing or moving those times." I nodded my head and put more of her books in the box in front of me. Even with us leaving things behind there was going to be a lot of stuff we were taking. Especially with all of the clothes and toys that belonged to Tanya. I was sure that she had more stuff to be packed than Bella and I combined.

Bella was getting more antsier as the week went on knowing that she was going to be leaving her daughter behind for two weeks while we got everything settled in the house. Then there was the being alone thing that was making us both nervous. She had gone to get the IUD in a while ago. I may be a virgin but I wasn't completely inexperienced when it came to the topic of sex. Emmett was my best friend who had no filter or sense of too much information. But still she confused me when she started talking about getting tested. We had just graduated; I was absolutely stumped as to what tests she was talking about.

"Tested for what?"

"Edward! Tanya is proof that they didn't bother with protection when they raped me. I got really lucky that a baby was the only permanent 'souvenir' they left me with." I gasped and sat down one the bed. I had never thought of that possibility. I didn't want to even consider the possibility that they had…it infuriated me too much to even follow that thought to its conclusion. So I nodded my head.

Thankfully, she changed the subject as she starting pulling few of her hoodies out of her closet and walked back to the bed. She used to wear them every day and now I rarely saw her wear them anymore. Then I watched as she packed them in a box of winter clothes that she was not taking with her. I was so proud of how far she'd come in her recovery. I smiled and kissed her before moving onto the next drawer. It was full of her pajamas, "Uh…you're leaving all of these behind too, right?" I said giving her my best cheeky smile.

She blushed and turned away from me for a moment then she cleared her throat and turned back to me, "I'm thinking about getting new ones; all floor length, long sleeved, flannel ones with high necks."

She wouldn't really do that? Would she? I stood there staring at her until she turned her away from me again. I could see her shoulders starting to shake and, yet again, I was confused. Was she crying? I walked up right behind her and put my hand on her shoulder. That is when I noticed that she wasn't crying. She was trying not to let me see her laugh. She lost it when she decided to actually look at me, "Oh! You are too easy! You should have seen the look on your face," She collapsed onto the floor in laughter, "I thought you were going to cry for a moment." I jumped on top of her and tickled her until her said she was sorry for being so mean and cruel because was not funny at all.

We stopped working soon after that when Leah and Seth came home from seeing friends on the reservation. Leah was pissed off and retreated into her room without a word to us. Bella cornered Seth who told us that she'd had a run in with that ass, Jacob. He actually had the nerve to insist that she still give him and Sam the money for the shop they were opening. He said they'd made a deal and she needed to keep it and not completely turn her back on her family and tribe like her mother had by marrying outside the tribe.

"What did she say to him?" I asked hoping she told him off.

"She 'said' nothing. She punched him in the stomach and then kneed him in the jewels. My sisters are so awesome." Without another word to took off into the living room and turned on his video games. Bella just stood their staring at the spot where he had been standing. Neither of us had missed the fact that he'd said 'sisters' as in both of them. I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head, "I have to agree with him there, you and Leah are all kinds of awesome."

Before we knew it, it was Friday and I had thrown out three large bags of garbage, Alice took out five, and Mom had gone through two whole boxes of Kleenex. Tomorrow Bella and I would leave early in the morning for our drive down to Los Angeles, but tonight we were having dinner at the diner with both of our families. Mom and Dad were driving Alice to Seattle on Sunday for her flight to Paris. Now that zero hour was upon us I was scared to leave.

A/N: Happy Tuesday! I hope that everyone had a great Mother's Day. I had a wonderful weekend trip with my family and I am now ready for my vacation to Branson next month. Ahhh…yes…sitting at the pool, swimming in the lake…relaxation…I can't wait. There are two more chapters after this one. I want to thank everyone for all the reviews to help me get to 1000. You guys are all kinds of awesome and I love you all. See you on Friday.


	100. Chapter 99

LL Chapter 99

Heart to Heart

I had driven my car over to Bella's and we'd loaded up her boxes and then I stopped at the gas station to fill up before going back home to pack my boxes in the car. Dad was home from work by the time I got back and he helped me load the car. He spent a good deal of time arranging the boxes in the back seat just right so that Bella and I would be able to see out the back window without any impairment. After that he kept giving me advice on driving safely and being conscious of my surroundings and the people around me once I got to LA. He would be quiet for a bit and then all of a sudden blurt out another piece of advice.

As soon as we were done and I started back into the house only to have Dad start yelling at me that I needed to make sure that I always, ALWAYS, lock the car when I left it unattended. I had to remember that I was no longer going to be living in a small town where it was taken for granted that you could trust your neighbors. That led him to a lecture about making sure that we remembered to lock the house doors and windows before we left for the day.

I finally got away from him and made my way upstairs to take a shower before we left to meet up with Bella and her family at the diner for dinner. When I was done I went downstairs to get a drink and wait for the rest of my family to be ready to go. I sat at the breakfast bar to drink my lemonade when I looked over and saw Alice's airline packet lying on the counter. Inside was her flight information, her passport, and her student visa. I set it back down where I'd found and sighed. I looked around the kitchen and thought about all the afternoons that Alice and I had spent sitting right here, doing our homework, while Mom cooked dinner or baked us cookies from scratch for an afternoon snack. I wiped away some tears as I heard someone coming down the stairs.

We arrived at the diner shortly after Bella and her family did. Bella was still attempting to wrestle a fighting baby into her high chair. She gave up a few minutes later and sat down holding her instead. Of course this was exactly what Tanya had wanted and we all had to keep moving things out of her reach. We were still looking at our menus when The Hales, The McCarty's, and Jessica showed up.

As the evening went on the quieter every got. The whole atmosphere was getting a little tense. It felt like there was so much to say but no one wanted to be the first to start the goodbyes. So nobody did.

While the bills were being divided up and settled, Charlie asked me to step outside with him, "I'm trusting you with their safety and happiness, Edward."

"I know and I will take care of them. I promise."

"I know you will.

"Leah too. It would just kill Sue and me if anything happened to any of them. Bella's been through too much as it is." I nodded in agreement. "You know her pill schedule and the names of everything that she is on right?"

"Yes, chief."

"She has a packet of information that your dad gave her to give the new cardiologist in LA. She has an appointment next week. She's nervous about seeing a new doctor and will try to get out of going, but don't let her."

"Ok."

"She hates doctors and will try to pull some cock and bull excuse to get out of them, so don't fall for it." I laughed because that was so Bella. She was so tired of seeing doctors and being sick and different. "I'm serious Edward. She even tried crying one time. You'll have to play the tough guy and not give her a choice about it, even if you have to physically put her in the car." I just stood there gaping at him. "It came down to that once before she moved here."

Our conversation quickly ended as the rest of our group started filtering outside. We milled around the parking lot for a while before departing after a quick round of hugs and goodnight's. I had no doubt that every one of them would be at my house in the morning to see us off. We had decided that it would be easier if Bella met me at my house and we take off from there as it would be backtracking a bit for me to pick her up at her place.

After the drive home with my family, which was spent in absolute silence, I walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Alice sat down next to me and laid her head on my shoulder.

"I'm going to make a pot of chamomile tea. Why don't you kids pick out a movie to watch before we head to bed?" The whole time we spent watching the movie was harsh on the senses. Our departures hung in the room like a thick fog that you couldn't escape.

I retreated to my room as soon as the movie was over to attempt to get some sleep for tomorrow. It was a bit of a lost cause. My nerves were running way too high to be able to fall asleep any time soon. I grabbed my phone from my nightstand next to me and opened a new message; "thinking of you" was all I had to say.

I was surprised when a reply came back a quickly saying, "I love you too."

I called her immediately, "What are you doing up?"

"Watching my baby sleep. It's going to kill me to walk away from her tomorrow."

"I know. But it will only be two weeks."

"Two long weeks."

"We're going to be so busy the time will just fly by and she'll be with us again before we know it."

"I know. But what if she takes her first steps and we miss it?"

"We won't"

"We could"

"We won't"

"How do you know that?"

"Because she just wouldn't do that to us." I could almost see her rolling her eyes at me. "Go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow. Love you."

"Love you too. G'night." After that I was able to relax and get some sleep.

A/N:

Happy Thursday. It is still Thursday for another hour here. There will be one more chapter that will post on Tuesday. Enjoy!

I just sent the one-shot I wrote for No Kid Hungry to Sweetpea123 to look over for me. But here is a teaser:

All I really heard was yap, yap, yap, could have killed someone…yap, yap, yap, lucky this time. That caused me to snort. My lawyer kicked me and the judge just got angrier. Finally the guy shut up and let us go home saying that he'd call my attorney with my community service arrangements. Big whoop.

There will be another teaser attached to the ASL update this weekend.


	101. Chapter 101

LL Chapter 100

Leaving

My alarm went off a lot sooner than I would have liked. I was glad that Bella and I had listened to our parents and decided to just take our time getting down to Los Angeles. It was going to be a total of twenty hours of driving so we were going to have to stop to sleep at some point anyway. We had it planned so that it would take us two and half days of driving to get there; eight hours today, eight more tomorrow, and four the next. That would get us there about midday on Monday.

I got up, dressed and took one last look around my room. It seemed so empty and hollow all of a sudden. This had been my bedroom my whole life. Now it was going to be months before I stepped back in here. A knock at my door caused me to jump. I opened the door to see my Dad standing there, "Your Mom has breakfast ready." I nodded and without giving in to the temptation to take one more look back at my room, I grabbed my last two bags and walked out of the room.

One look at Mom told me that she hadn't slept at all last night but had been crying. Breakfast was spent with Mom and Dad throwing out last minute advice to us ranging from driving safe to money management to child care. Before I knew it, we heard the Chief's car pulling up in front of the house.

Dad grabbed my bags as we all headed outside. Bella had Tanya out of the car seat and was clinging to her like her life depended on it. Our friends showed up soon after Bella had. It took a half and hour to get Bella to let go of the baby long enough for me to give Tanya hugs and kisses goodbye. I had only had her for a minute before Bella snatched her back and started to cry as she clutched her to her chest. It took another fifteen minutes to get her to hand the baby over to Leah. With one last hug for her Dad she finally got in the car. I started the car and we slowly made our way out of the drive way, with our friends and family waving and yelling goodbye until we pulled onto the highway.

We remained pretty quiet until we stopped for lunch. I knew that leaving Tanya behind was going to be difficult for her but it was going to be fine. It did give me an appreciation of how Mom and Dad were feeling right now. It must be torture for them to watch Alice and me preparing to leave. I mean, Tanya will be joining us in a few days. Alice and I were moving out permanently.

We made in well into Oregon before we stopped for the night. Our parents had told us to stop at nice hotels that were well staffed for safety. While I called my parents to let them know that we made it to our first stopping point alright, Bella pulled out her computer and was making a Skype call to see the baby. If this is what she needed to feel better for next two weeks, then that was what she'd have.

We were completely exhausted by the time that we pulled into the driveway of our new home on Monday afternoon. James and Victoria, our landlords, had been watching for us and came to greet us. Some of the furniture was already in the house. Other pieces still had to be delivered and there were a ton of boxes sitting in the living room that had to be moved to the right rooms. Our parents had been right, we had a lot of work to do and it was a good thing that Tanya wasn't here. As mobile as she was she was liable to get hurt on a stray box or something.

We worked for a couple of hours mainly getting our bedroom set up. We had to move the furniture into the room from the living room and arrange it where we wanted it. She made me help her make the bed before we collapsed on it in exhaustion. I could have fallen asleep right then and there and I would have until her stomach started growling making her giggle. So I pulled her up off the bed and we went in search of someplace to eat.

By the time we got home it was time to call home. We called Bella's family first as Tanya would be going to bed soon. She was totally mesmerized by seeing us on the computer screen. She fell asleep in Leah's arms while we were on the call so we let her go to put the baby to bed. Then we called my parents. They had just gotten off the phone with Alice. She had made it safely and was settled in her housing with a couple of fellow students. It was assigned housing through the school with students that were starting with her. The school found that it improved the student's work and chances for success to put them together in a living environment. She was happy and I was happy for her.

An hour later, both of us had showered and were getting ready for bed. This was it. This is the night that we had been waiting for and I was absolutely terrified. I was pulling back the covers on the bed when Bella came out of the bathroom. I looked up and the sight of her took my breath away. She had pulled her hair up and the night gown she was wearing left absolutely nothing to the imagination. It was black and completely lace. She was beautiful and she was mine. She stood there fidgeting while I stared at her until I regained my ability to speak and even then the only thing that I could get out was, "Wow!"

I walked over to her and cupped her face in my hands before I kissed her. I pulled back a little and looked her directly in the eyes, "Are you absolutely sure about this? We can wait if you want to."

"I want to make love to you tonight, Edward. I'm completely ready." Then I walked her back to the bed while kissing her and then I…."

To be continued…soon

A/N:

You guys are going to kill me aren't you? He he he. I had to end it there. I just did. After looking at my schedule I am not going to start posting the sequel until early July. I need a rest and I am going to be traveling for a little bit in there.

Thank you to everyone that has taken their time to read and review. I love you all. You are so amazing and special to me. I will see you all very soon with the sequel which will be titled, "On Our Own."


	102. Chapter 102

LL Outtake 3

More Bella

**Pre-story Bella:**

I grabbed another piece of pizza out of the box and flopped down on the floor next to Riley and laid my head on his shoulder while he finished Cassie's hands. Our parents reluctantly agreed to let him come to our sleepovers, but when we went to sleep he had to go sleep on the couch in the living room. It wasn't that they doubted that he was gay. He made no secret that he was. They just thought, gay or not, it was inappropriate for him to sleep in the room with us. We were at Cassie's house this time. We always alternated between Cassie's and Courtney's homes. None of our parents would have gone for a sleepover at Riley's, and I didn't want my friends around my stepfather any more than necessary. None of us liked him or could figure out what Mom saw in him.

Riley reached behind him and pulled out the new electric blue nail polish he brought and moved so that he could paint my toenails while I ate my pizza. This was our normal Friday night. Tomorrow we were going shopping at the mall to help Riley pick out an outfit for his hot date. Courtney also had an appointment to get her hair dyed again. Her hair was a constantly changing color palate. We had a jar with little pieces of paper with colors written on them, and every few months one of us would pick a color and she would dye her hair that color.

Tomorrow she was going from green to purple. It always shocked me that her parents were willing to pay for it. Courtney said that as long as she wore the wig they bought her when she had to visit her stuffy uncle, or attend any event dealing with her father's business, they didn't care. She had been trying to get them to agree to let her get her tongue pierced but they weren't willing to let her take her "quest for individuality" that far.

As Riley worked on my toes, I laid back and let my mind wander to a discussion Mom and I had about a year ago.

_"I know what I want for my birthday."_

_ "Really?"_

_ "I want to dye my hair blond!"_

_ My mother looked appalled, "Why on earth would you want to change your beautiful hair?" I explained that I was tired of being the only one of my friends to have never been even asked out on a date. I thought that by maybe going blond, I could get some guy's attention._

_ "Bella, you are only fifteen. You are an amazing person. You are smart and you are beautiful just the way you are. You don't have to change anything about yourself to impress a guy. And NEVER change your body to impress anyone. As for your first date, well it's just not the right time for you right now. You haven't found that special guy who will love you for who you are. He will love your intelligence, he will adore your family, even gruff old Charlie," She smiled at me, "but most of all, he's going to love you whether your hair is blond, brown, or you have no hair at all, because that is what unconditional love is."_

_ "You're positive I'll find this amazing guy someday?"_

_ "I promise, sweetheart. He's going to pop up when you least expect him to. He'll sweep you off your feet and treat you like a princess. Besides, I'll only say yes to coloring your hair if you can get your dad to say yes first." That ended that discussion. There was no way that Dad would _EVER_ allow me to change my hair that way._

Riley finished doing my toes and I got up and waddled over to the TV to change the movie. Riley yelled at me as I nearly lost my balance, "Girl you ruin my paint job and I'll beat you to death with your own pillow!" I just stuck my tongue out at him and turned back to start the movie. It wasn't easy to walk with those foam thingy's stuck between your toes.

We watched Pirates of the Caribbean for like the ten millionth time, because all four of us had a crush on Johnny Depp, until my favorite song came on the radio. The four us danced around the room while singing along until we collapsed in laughter. I loved these nights.

After all the pizza was gone and everyone had their nails done to Riley's satisfaction, he kissed us all on the tops of our heads and went out to the living room, leaving us girls to gossip and chat until we just fell asleep.

**Meeting Edward (Chapters 2-3)**

I hated being away from her. It had been three days since I had been forced to leave my daughter and travel by car to Washington. I was antsy. I was irritable. I was getting on my father's last nerve.

I was terrified for her safety. Dad kept telling me not to stress so much, it wasn't good for my heart. He reminded me that Sue was with Tanya and she would be safe. I didn't understand how he could promise me that. He had personally taken the phone calls, from people that we were never able to identify, threatening to kill my daughter in retaliation for me testifying against _them_ about the attack. They told me not to turn my back for a second, and that even the hospital staff couldn't be trusted. More than once they would claim that an orderly could easily be bought off to help them. I trusted no one but Dad, Sue, Leah, and Seth with my daughter. Dad had married Sue a couple of years ago and with a step-mom, I got a step brother and a step sister. I loved having siblings, even if we lived so far apart. Well, not now. Now, Tanya and I were moving in with them. I think it's going to be a good thing for us.

We were only half way through Oregon and still had a long way to go before we got to Forks, Washington. I was having a lot of trouble being separated from Tanya, but I couldn't fly and the drive was too long for Tanya. She was being flown through various life-flight helicopters. She and Sue were going to have to change flights several times before they finally got to the hospital in Port Angeles. Dr. Cullen, her boss and my new cardiologist, had arranged for the whole thing by calling in favors from various friends and colleagues. I don't think that I was ever going to be able to repay him for his kindness. Sue told me that Dr. Cullen's wife had volunteered to babysit Tanya for me, for free, while I was at school and she had to be at work. I was very uneasy about leaving her with a stranger but I may not have a choice in the matter.

It helped that Charlie and Sue had known Esme for years. Sue had worked for Dr. Cullen part-time as one of his nurses since she graduated from nursing school. I had an appointment with Dr. Cullen the morning after Dad and I were due to arrive in Forks. Mrs. Cullen was going to come to the doctor's office and meet me. It made me feel terrible that I was having such a hard time excepting her offer of free babysitting, but I just couldn't help my fears.

After some construction delays that had us running behind schedule by a few hours, Dad and I pulled into Forks at about ten at night. Dad refused to let me help carry in our overnight bags. Leah was acting really strange when we walked into the house. Seth was easily excited and hyper but Leah never was one to be excitable. As soon as I walked in the door they were on top of me, grabbing me and hugging me and pulling me toward the stairs. They dragged me upstairs to the room that I would be sharing with my daughter when she was finally able to come home. They made sure that I closed my eyes before they would open the door. I felt Leah grab my hand and lead me into the room. I waited patiently until they said that I could look. I was so overwhelmed when I was finally allowed to see the room. They had turned the room into a butterfly palace. There were butterfly ornaments attached all over the walls and some hanging from the ceiling. They got matching purple butterfly blankets for our beds. The walls behind the butterflies were painted blue with white fluffy clouds. It was so beautiful and unexpected that I started to cry, "Thank you so much. This is too incredible for words." I walked around the room, spinning around and taking it all in. They worked so hard on this. I walked over to where my bed was and fingered a large purple butterfly.

"We designed it to be like a large mobile instead of getting a small one that attached to the crib," Seth told me.

"Oh my God! You two did a great job on this room." Dad was just as much in awe of the room as I was when he entered carrying my bag. I was already getting very tired so I sat down on the bed and laid back. I was so enthralled in how beautiful this room was, "This must have taken you two forever to do."

"Eh," was the only response I got from Leah. But when I looked over at her she was smiling away. I ran over and hugged both her and Seth. Seth squirmed away from me and bolted out of the room. Leah and Dad made their escapes soon after, leaving me alone to unpack and rest. But there was no way that I was going to get any sleep when my daughter was in a strange hospital with total strangers watching her.

I walked around the room taking in the butterfly palace that Leah and Seth had created for us. I sighed when I stopped at the crib and I closed my eyes and tried to imagine Tanya sleeping there. I could almost see it. I could almost see her lying there.

I was still standing there when I heard Sue's car pulling into the driveway. I bolted out of the room and ran for the stairs. I had just made it to the top of the stairs when Dad came out of his room yelling at me that I needed to stop running and calm down. Yeah, yeah. I'm not allowed to do anything strenuous or I could have another heart attack. I slowed down and made it to the bottom of the stairs just as Sue walked in the front door.

"Welcome home, Sweetheart!" She grabbed me into a big hug. "She did amazingly well." She knew exactly what I wanted to know. "We had no problems in transport and she was sleeping soundly when I left her tonight." I could at least rest easier knowing that, not that I was going to get much actual sleep. I had way too many nightmares for that. I wished that I could sleep. I was so tired and my new bed was extremely comfortable.

I climbed out of bed when I heard everyone else in the house getting up for the morning. It was Saturday so when I made it to the table for breakfast they were discussing their plans for the day. I just couldn't wait to get to see Tanya and see for myself that my daughter was indeed safe and sound. But I would have to endure a couple of doctors first.

As soon as we were done eating breakfast Dad cleared his throat and said that he had to head down to the station to check in on his guys. Leah had plans with her boyfriend Sam, and Sue had an Elders meeting to go to. They had postponed the last one because she was traveling with Tanya and could not make it, "But how am I going to get to Port Angeles to see Tanya?" I was beginning to panic. It took a minute before I realized that everyone was smiling at me as Dad held a set of keys out to me, "Go look in the garage," was all that he said before I grabbed the keys from him and took off out of the kitchen. Sitting in the garage was the cutest little Dodge Neon. It was perfect for me. Absolutely perfect.

When I walked into Dr. Cullen's office there was a pretty woman sitting on the edge of the receptionist desk laughing and talking with the woman sitting behind the desk. They both looked up at me with warm smiles when they heard me shut the door. The woman that had been sitting on the desk stood up and walked over to me, "Bella! I am so happy to finally meet you. I'm Esme Cullen." Then she shocked me when she grabbed me into a hug.

She was a really sweet lady. Not that I really expected anything different. Dad and Sue would never suggest that I leave my baby with anyone that they didn't trust completely, and I really did need a sitter for when I was at school and Dad and Sue had to work. I talked to her for a few minutes longer until the nurse came out to get me. I easily recognized Dr. Cullen's kind face and voice from the video conferences that we had had while I was still in Phoenix. Dr. Cullen was still not happy with where my blood pressure readings were so he had them checked two more times before he would allow me to leave his office. He did allow me to start school again on Monday on a conditional basis. If he thought that the stress was getting to be too much for me he was going to make me stop going. I reluctantly agreed with him. I didn't really want to give up my education but I also didn't want to die.

After I left his office I started the hour long drive up to Port Angeles to see my therapist before finally getting to see my baby. Normally, my appointments were going to be on Mondays, but she wanted to meet with me and get to know each other a little before we started regular sessions. She had already heard most of my background as I had utilized the same video conference capabilities with her. I hated talking about what happened to me. But everyone was so insistent that I need to talk about it to get past it. All it really tended to do at this point was make me angrier and more upset. But still, I went and I talked. I told her about my nightmare, it was the same one that I had been having since Tanya was born. The one where I am in an unidentified room and some guy has my daughter. I can't make out who he is because his face is a blur, but as soon as I move toward them to save my daughter they both disappear into thin air, and all I am left with is a man's laughter. The laughter I recognize and it sends chills down my spine. It's my step-father's laugh. I hate him. I hate him and his friend for who they are and what they did to me.

By the time I left my therapist's office I was really emotional, as I went from the doctor's building to the NICU in the main hospital. I found myself almost running down the halls to get to her. Walking into the NICU was like walking directly into my nightmare. I stopped fast in my tracks when I saw my daughter being held by a strange man who was laughing and cooing at her. I didn't think, really, I just reacted. All I really knew was that I had to save my baby from him. I ran at them demanding that he give her back and when he didn't I punched him. I mean, I really punched him. The nurses came running as he finally gave me back my baby.

A couple of the nurses tried to look at my hand to make sure that I was alright, while one nurse went after the guy as he stormed out of the room. I was fine. I just wanted to hold my baby and take care of her until they forced me to leave at the end of visiting hours. The nurse that followed the guy out in the hall came back in and came over to talk to me. Apparently I had just punched their favorite volunteer. His name was Edward and he had been helping out in the NICU for a long time. He was also Dr. Cullen's son. She kind of scolded me for hitting him, saying that they were not going to tolerate that behavior from anyone. I just nodded and hung my head. Now that I had time to think and was more rational, I was appalled at my behavior. I was not a violent person. I knew that I would have to apologize to him at some point. I would try the next time I saw him. If he let me get close enough to him to do it.

I told Dad and Sue what had happened when they arrived later that afternoon. I hated disappointing Dad. He had been trying so hard to be nothing but supportive of me and my choices since I was attacked, but I knew that it had been hard on him. He told me that this was something that I needed to tell my therapist so we could work on my issues. It was going to take decades to work on all my issues.

The rest of the weekend went by quickly. I still had not seen that Edward guy return, then again, I'm sure that he wouldn't spend his entire weekend at the hospital. No one volunteers that much. I did, however, meet two very nice girls at my victim's group meeting at the church. Rose and Angela were both seniors like me.

Monday morning I drove myself to Forks High School. Leah and Seth both attended school on the reservation so I was on my own. I went directly to the school office to get my schedule, and the lady behind the desk was quite talkative and made me late for my first period class. I kept to myself as much as I could during that class. It was quite easy as it was Government and the teacher was lecturing. It didn't stop the kids from staring at me though. When the bell rang, I jumped up from my seat like it was on fire and bolted from the classroom.

My second period class was Physics which luckily wasn't too far of a walk from my last class. The kids were continuing to stare, point, and whisper as I walked so I was thrilled to get into a classroom. Dr. Banner handed me a book and showed me to a table saying that I should copy my neighbor's notes so that I would be prepared for the midterm and final exams. I was thumbing through my text book when movement next to me startled me. I looked over at the kid who had sat down next to me, and SHIT! It was Edward from the hospital, and from the look on his face he hated me. I was about to apologize to him when he opened his mouth spouting off about being the smartest kid in school. He was even arrogant enough to claim to be smarter than the teachers. There was a part of me that was no longer sorry that I punched him and wanted to do it again. Even after he threatened to have my father arrested. Then he proceeded to read throughout class and not even pay attention. I'd show him who the smartest student in this school was now that I was here. He had no idea who he was messing with. One day he was going to have to admit that I am smarter than him.

**First Date (Chapter 32)**

I was so excited. My very first date. Ever! I could not believe that I had agreed to go out on a date with him. And not just any date but a charity ball with Edward. I had been surprised that he asked me to be his date. I had gone from thinking that he was an arrogant jerk, to being his friend, to wanting to go out with him in a very short amount of time. I had wanted him to ask me out so much that I had actually turned to Rosalie for advice. It wasn't like I could talk to Angela about it. She was obsessed with Edward. It was really weird since he acted like he couldn't even stand her presence. In fact, the more that he ignored her, the more desperate and pathetic she became. Even with Rose's assurance that she was sure that he was interested in me, I never thought that he actually would ask me out. He had this thing against teen mothers. Everyone had told me that. Angela liked to remind me of that quite often. She had tried to tell me that he hated babies but I knew that she was full of it. He was great with Tanya and he volunteered to hold babies in the NICU. No one would do that if they hated babies. I was surprised when he asked me, but I needed to know that he understood that Tanya and I were a package deal.

What surprised me more than Edward actually asking me out was Dad's reaction. He was actually thrilled about it. He liked Edward a lot and had been encouraging me to be friends with him. I didn't get it. Most dads of a teenage girl would be attempting to scare off any boy that was interested in his daughter. Considering that Dad was licensed to carry a gun and could easily dispose of the body, Edward was extremely lucky that Dad liked him.

Leah hated getting all dressed up for things like this and volunteered to babysit for me. I knew that Dad and Sue had forced her to go last year and that she went without Sam. He straight out refused to wear a tux.

All of us women went to Seattle for the weekend to shop for new dresses. There was a part of me that was insecure and was not comfortable with the gowns that they kept handing me to try on. That is, until Esme handed me a dress saying that it was perfect for me. Yeah. As if I hadn't heard that one several times already today. But she was right this time. I fell in love with it as she brought it into my dressing room. It was navy blue and was a one-shoulder dress instead of all the strapless ones they had been throwing at me. I really knew it was the one that I wanted to get when I slipped it on and it fit perfectly. I knew when I walked out of the dressing room and heard everyone gasp that Esme and I were right. This was the dress for me.

The day of the ball all of us girls went to have our hair and nails done. I may not be the frilly girl type, may feel most comfortable in jeans and a hoodie, but I do like to be pampered at the salon once in a while. I suppose that it should have concerned me that Tanya fell asleep for her nap almost an hour early and longer than normal, but I was so focused on getting ready to go out that I really wasn't paying close attention to her. That was Leah's job today. I was stressed with trying to look nice for Edward. The more that I thought about the dress that was hanging in my closest, the more nervous I became. I was terrified that it was too revealing.

Before I knew it I was standing in my room looking at myself in a long mirror. I hardly recognized that girl standing before me. I heard a car pull into the driveway. I knew that it had to be Edward. I smoothed my dress down again as I slipped my feet into my shoes while willing myself not to have a panic attack. From the top of the stairs I was able to see him before he saw me. He took my breath away with how amazing he looked in his tux.

Walking into the ballroom was so magical. Esme had done a wonderful job planning the ball. Edward rarely left my side all night, and when he held me when we danced I felt like we were the only ones in the room. We laughed, we danced, and we ate great food. I know there was something going on onstage but I wasn't paying attention to anything but Edward, our families, and our friends at our table. Carlisle exchanged our plates of cake with a wink when the desserts were served. I guess dating your cardiologist's son can have its advantages sometimes.

And it could have its disadvantages too. I knew that Dr. Cullen had been watching me all night and had warned me not to overdo it just because I was having fun. I knew that he was worried that my heart wouldn't be able to handle the strain. I knew he was right, but I just couldn't find it in me to sit out a minute of the night. I finally felt like this was that princess moment my mother had promised me.

At Edward's suggestion we left the ballroom to take a walk towards the end of the evening. I couldn't deny that I had really needed a break by that point. We walked hand in hand down the hall where we stopped and stood, holding each other until he asked if he could kiss me. He wanted to kiss me! I knew that I had to be dreaming now. There was no way that I was getting to have such a perfect first date. I didn't care if this was just a dream, as long as I didn't wake up anytime soon. I just started chanting in my head, "please don't let me wake up. Please don't let me wake up." The next thing I knew his lips were on mine and we were kissing.

I could feel his hands twitching while they held my waist, like he was fighting to keep them there instead of letting them roam. This is why I trusted him. He knew my past and would never push me to do anything that I was not ready for. I wouldn't even be his friend if I ever thought that he was capable of something like that.

Before I knew it, our kiss was over and he was pulling away from me. I turned my head slightly and looked out the glass door behind me and was shocked to see that it was not only snowing, but it was snowing really hard.

He asked me if I trusted him. It made me recall my thoughts of just moments ago, I trusted him with my life. I trusted him with my daughter's life. I followed him blindly upstairs. I had no clue what was waiting for me upstairs, but I wasn't worried at all and that surprised me. I would have expected to feel some level of panic being in this situation for the first time since…

I had been so preoccupied on how calm I was feeling and reliving that kiss in my head that I never even bothered to attempt to figure out why he was taking me upstairs. I certainly had never expected what was waiting for me when he opened the door to the hotel room. He had arranged for Leah to drive up with my daughter so that I wouldn't have to be apart from her all night.

I couldn't believe that he would think of this or put so much effort into making sure that I was happy and taken care of. He really was the Prince Charming that my mother told me was waiting for me. He really and truly cared about me and my happiness and he absolutely adored my daughter. I couldn't help the tears that were falling from my eyes. I was so overwhelmed with emotions.

I decided that I didn't really want to leave my baby again to return to the party. The only thing that I needed to be happy was to be with Edward and Tanya. After he left to go to his room across the hall I turned to Leah who was already pulling her swimsuit out of her bag. I grabbed her and hugged her hard, thanking her. 'It was all Edward' was all that she would say as she bolted out of the room determined to get to the hotel pool. I changed my clothes and went across the hall for the perfect ending of the perfect evening.

**Quality time at the movies (Chapter 80-81)**

It seemed like it had been forever since Edward and I had had any time where we were truly alone. I guess that is what parenthood is like. However, there was no way that I was going to pass up a chance to get out alone with Edward when someone volunteered to watch Tanya. I wasn't ready to go home when we were finished eating dinner so I decided to try a suggestion that Rose gave me one day when I asked for her help. My therapist and I had talked a great deal about my fears of intimacy and sex. I was afraid of the idea of intimacy. I was afraid that I would actually remember what had happened the night that I was attacked.

Everyone kept telling me that I would never know until I put myself in that situation. Rose gave me what amounted to the best advice that I had yet to be given. She told me that Edward loved me and not only would he strive to make me comfortable and feel safe, but should anything happen to upset me or cause me to have one of my flash back panic attacks he would take good care of me and comfort me.

Rose told me that when she and Emmett sometimes go to see a movie that has been out so long that it is just about to be pulled from the theatre. She says that she could practically guarantee that it would be just Edward and I in that theatre.

When we walked into the theatre I was thrilled to find that Rose was right and it was just the two of us. I still led us to seats in the very back of theatre. Rose told me to sit all the way back so the kid running the projector wouldn't see us. I knew that if I gave myself anytime to think about what I was planning to do I would give into myself doubt and fears. I pretty much just threw myself at him. I knew that I had shocked and confused Edward. I never behaved this way before. I was eighteen and a mom and I didn't even remember having sex. In my situation, though, this was actually a very good thing. I had always been a good girl and never acted out and look where it got me. I loved Edward. We were moving in together soon and I knew that he wanted me. Deep down under my fears I really wanted him. I had been thinking about it since that day I walked into his room and saw him naked.

With really thinking about what I was doing I found myself straddling his lap. I kept kissing him and every time I would shift my hips he would grip my hips tighter. I was still wearing my dress from earlier so I could feel all of him against me. I had told him that I didn't want to have sex and I meant it. Not only was that something that I would never do in public but I was not ready for that step. That was the final major step and would pretty much require me to get naked in front of him. That would mean showing off my scar from the C-section I'd had. I came close to a panic attack whenever I would let my mind actually think about what I was doing. It was my fear of the unknown and maybe a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy. I'd convinced myself that being intimate should make me panic therefore I will have a panic attack. I made myself relax and just feel and once I did, oh God did it feel good. It felt really good. It didn't take long for both of us to have an orgasm.

Afterwards we just sat there holding each other for a few minutes. We talked briefly about the fact that this was the first time that I had had an orgasm. I had tried to do it myself but it just didn't work out. I was terrified that someone would walk past the bathroom and hear me. The idea of being caught was so mortifying that I couldn't relax enough to get into it so I just gave up.

Edward left to go to the bathroom to clean himself up a few minutes later. As soon as he was out of sight I jumped up out of my seat and started doing a little happy dance right there in the theatre. I decided that I was ready to leave so I went out into the hall to wait for him outside the bathroom. Tonight was officially one of the best nights of my life.

A/N:

This is the outtake that I wrote and donated to the Autism Fundraiser. I've had a nice break from writing and I am now eager to start posting again. The sequel to this story will start posting on July 1st as promised. For those of you that are reading ASL. The epi is with Sweetpea123, who beta'd this for me as well, and as soon as she gets it back to me I will post it. Just a reminder that it is going to be called On Our Own.


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